Look for the Silver Lining
Too many nonfiction writers think that in order to be serious they should be as free of emotion as possible. This can make boring topics even more dust dry. Try to have people feel something when they read your work. It’s easier to remember what you wrote when they remember how they felt. It doesn’t have to be touchy-feely — it can be amusement, inspiration or even outrage (although we have had a surplus of reflexive outrage as of late, so see if you can avoid inciting outrage, at least for the foreseeable future). Although it may be easier to foment dissent, if you can inspire people, give them a sense of hope when circumstances are grim, they’re likely to remember — and appreciate — what you have written for a long time. Think you don’t have it in you? Nonsense.
Offer a Quantum of Solace
Provided you are not in the business of putting together a nightly newscast there’s no need to follow the “if it bleeds it leads” approach to create maximum histrionics and hysteria. There’s more than enough of that to go around, particularly in the midst of a global pandemic catastrophe. We’ll always have a surfeit of bad news and it’s easy to add to the fire. But when conditions are at their worst — whether a company or personal crisis or exogenous event — you can be at your best, provided you keep your head when others are losing theirs. You don’t have to be a Panglossian Pollyanna to offer an uplifting alternative to perpetual doom and gloom.
If you feel trepidation staring at the tyranny of a blank screen to write something positive, rewind to January 28, 1986 when President Reagan assigned self-described “little schmagoogie” Peggy Noonan the impossible task of writing his speech to console the entire country after the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up on live TV killing six astronauts and a beloved schoolteacher. What did she do? Noonan first had Reagan acknowledge the tragedy of the seven souls lost, but then reiterated the eternal need for pioneers to look ever forward:
“We’ve grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we’ve only just begun. We’re still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers…. The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we’ll continue to follow them.”
Regardless of what you may think of Reagan, at that moment, as they say, the speech landed. It was the precise palliative balm and reassertion of perseverance the nation needed. Noonan evokes the idea of America a place where despite our differences, we share a common pursuit as perpetual pioneers: “We’re still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.” Noonan doesn’t state, “The Challenger crew were pioneers.” She begins the sentence with the pronoun “they” to at once inject a verbal pause and acknowledge their collective pursuit of progress and then shifts to underscore that unlucky seven individual souls were lost: “the members of the Challenger crew.”
Notice how Noonan uses the copywriter’s contrast technique too: we/they, fainthearted/brave, pulling/follow. She then closed Reagan’s speech with a reference to the poem “High Flight” she remembered reading in 7th grade by airman John Gillespie Magee who died in flight during World War II:
“We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’”
Stand on the Shoulders of Giants
We haven’t forgotten them, or the last time we saw them, even though it was 35 years ago. And as the speech said, we continue to follow them, the brave, into the future. They were pioneers and we’re still pioneers today with aspirations for space, the moon, Mars and beyond. But here’s the thing: you don’t need be Pulitzer Prize-winning Peggy or have the gifts of a poet. Y ou only need to be able to recognize them. Hop atop the shoulders of giants by recapitulating and leveraging previous utterances of eloquence. As Greek rhetorician Dionysius of Halicarnassus noted (see how this works?), those who stand on the shoulders of giants see farther than the giants themselves.
Make sure, however, you quote giants vs. wantwits.”That’s hot” may be Paris Hilton’s (remember her?) trademarked catchphrase, but it does not stand the test of time.To find good quotes, read good writing and discern actual insight and wisdom from pablum. One potential test: if a quote sounds like something that could appear on a Successories poster, find a quote that says the opposite. Don’t over do it and try to take on Bartlett’s. Judicious use of eloquent quotations (with proper citation!) in your own work will engage your readers and enliven your prose with words that have already proven their ability to inform, educate and above all inspire. What’s better yet, when you associate with them, you’ll benefit from a halo effect that will make your readers remember you as a better writer than you might actually merit. As long as you remember your 7th grade English class, you already have a head start. Hot indeed.
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
