When writers ask me what form a piece of writing should take, I think of my distinguished journalism professor, Larry Pinkham, who spent eight years in Beijing establishing English-language journalism programs and two years in India as dean of the newly founded Asian College of Journalism in Chennai. He taught at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and then at the University of Massachusetts where I met him. He certainly knew his way around putting words together, and storytelling was at the heart of his teaching.
Each time he gave a writing assignment at least one would student ask: How long should this news article be? Professor Pinkham never failed to give us the only answer I have ever heard that made sense to me. It is the answer to fit every writer’s question of what a novel, short story, essay, news article, or poem ‘should’ look like. With a small quirk at the corner of his mouth he would quote the French sculptor Rodin. “Rodin was once asked how large a sculpture should be,” Professor Pinkham would begin. “His answer,” and here our professor would pause to look at each of us. “His answer was: It should be of enough mass and weight so that when rolled down a hill, its arms don’t break off.”
I offer this wisdom from Rodin and Professor Pinkham. Find the weight and mass of your own words. Say what you want to say and experiment with how you want to say it. The length and structure will become evident as you allow the content to shape itself. There is no one way to create art. That’s what Professor Pinkham was teaching: make your own rules. Shape your work so that it best holds what you want to express and that shape will protect the art down whatever hill a reader decides to roll it.
Upcoming Events
Cabin Fever Workshop! Feeling confined? Need a winter boost? Join me for a two-day, in-person, open-genre, all-out spree of writing what’s bottled up, weighed down, air-deprived and waiting to be released. We will meet in Amherst, Massachusetts on February 21st & 22nd and write in response to prompts that can only be delivered in person. We will follow the Amherst Writers & Artists workshop method of trust and respect; writers of all experience levels are welcome; space limited. Cost: $300. Information: maureen@maureenbjones.com
Prompt Photo
