Lecture 06 | Narrowing the Topic-03

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I could have finished this topic in one post but thought it better to give you people as more techniques as I can. For one technique does not work for all. Here I am again giving you some tips to manage and narrow down your topic.

Aspect -- Choose a perspective or frame of reference through which you want to look at your topic. Instead of writing on "Importance of colours in Eastern Rituals", you may write on "Importance of colours in Hindu rituals" by mainly focusing on Holi. Thus you will get an informed choice to express yourself. 

Components -- Think and determine if your topic can further be divided in smaller parts in terms of it's components for this type of division will make your mind clearer, your topic focused and your will have informed choice to analyse. "Exposure to Screen time" is a very broad topic. Make it "Exposure to screen time and education". Again a question arises which education? So make it "Children exposure to screen time and nursery education". Again, the term "exposure" is vague and  raises many serious questions. So make it "Exposure to Screen time and it's effects on education of nursery children".

Place -- It is of utmost importance to choose a smaller area. Smaller area of analysis will make you more focused and attentive on the topic. So, rather than studying "Declining condition of education in SIndh" you should study "Declining condition of education in Hyderabad, SIndh". Even Hyderabad is a very vast area. It is a division consisting nine districts. So work more on the topic and narrow it down in term of place again and focus on Hyderabad city. Now, it will be more manageable. 

Relationship -- Well, this is one of the most interesting thing. It focuses on the way two points, perspectives or variable relate to each other. In this way you may take into consideration cause and effect, compare/contrast, individual/group, male/female, contemporary/historic, just to cite a few examples. It is not confusing and very easy to do instead.  

Time -- Focusing on a specific time period in your writing piece will enable your to be more focused. "Health Facilities in Rural Sindh" will be broader in terms of place as well as time. Therefore, "Health Facilities in District Shikarpur during PPP government 2013-2018" will be convenient to write on.

Type -- Be focused in your topic by concentrating on a specific type of any thing. We wrote the term "health facilities" above. Divide it further into "Child care health facilities" or "mother care health facilities" in terms of type. Then another question arises what type of subjects/people you are going to study. Let us think over it again. We can make it "Child Care Health Facilities for daily wagers in Shikarpur district". Here we have narrowed our topic in terms of place (Shikarpur), type of problem (Child Care instead of health) and type of subjects/people (Daily wagers). 

Combination -- If you think your topic is still too broader, use a combination of above tools. 

 

Lecture 05 | Narrowing the topic-02

In the previous post, I discussed two approaches to narrow down the topic. Here we go with more.  

3. By using  five Ws and one H

If you feel your topic is too broad, look at the same with microscopic view. I mean divide the broader topic into several smaller questions. This exercise allows you to find bits and tips of which the topic is made of. Then you can choose bit of your choice to write on. If we put it simply, we mean to analyse a topic in terms of certain simple and straight forward questions such as who, what, when, where, whom, why, and how?. 

For instance, if we want to continue working on our topic of "Climate Change", we can come up with many interesting questions such as When was the term "Climate Change" coined? Was there a scientific or political  motivation behind coinage of this term? At what time the term was coined? Who takes the decision regarding climate change? Scientists or politicians? Who/Which nations are the most affected by climate change? Which nations are greatly contributing in emission of green house gases? What is the condition of biodiversity in Indus Delta Region? 

In applying this tool, you will have to keep in mind that the scope of questions with 'what, when, where, who' will be narrow. Therefore, be advised to focus more on 'how' and 'why' questions. 

Without a shred of doubt, this exercise will take some time of yours, but believe me, it will be immensely helpful for you in determining the angle or aspect of topic to be treated. This exercise is a little time-consuming and you may always not be in position to spend that much time one single assignment. Even then it's one of the essential exercise for a variety of reasons: (1) this exercise will make you do some thinking over the topic; (2) the thinking process will mentally push you into the circle of your topic making it a part of your mind and; (3) by doing this exercise you are more likely to come up with another idea for the future.   

4. By searching on internet

Ideas always strike our minds very easily. Those ideas are equally potential to confuse us as well. Therefore, spare your time in doing some research on your topic and find one aspect of the topic on which you can get inspiration from. Internet is our best companion in such cases. You are supposed to receive very interesting results when you search the given topic on google. We get a great deal of results while searching for "Climate Change" on google. Few examples are given below:

(1) Climate Change and poetry on month of December

(2) Climate Change effects on human psychological behaviour. 

(3) Climate Change and Indus Blue Whale Survival

In the topic # 01, you may start from a thesis statement that "In the wake of climate change, Urdu poetry done on the month of December has become irrelevant". While in topic # 02, you may start from an individuals' always angry mood in the season of summer.  And the third topic is also about climate change in which you intend to write about loss of biodiversity in Indus delta due to climate change by making Indus Blue Whale a case. 

You see we receive such an interesting range of results. After that, we may find an aspect of our choice and writing will be fun for us then. When you take writing as passion your writing also becomes enjoyable for readers as well. Just a final tip. While searching on google, do not stop at the first page. Browse few more pages or keep changing your key search words for getting better and more interesting results.  

Lecture 04 | Narrowing the topic-01

Many students often come up with broader topics such as "Political scenario in Pakistan", "The Mode of Electronic Media in Pakistan", "Climate Change and Pakistan" etc. We should bear in mind that these are way too broad and too vast and it is not possible to write on them in a couple of thousand words.  Someone can write a book on those subjects instead. For example, "Climate Change in Pakistan" has many aspects to be covered. This subject can be approached from the lens of political science, economics, gender studies, sociology, psychology, geography and much more. 

So in this situation of dilemma, the topic demands a careful attention. If you don't give it a proper thought, you will surely end up in a narrow street with wastage of a great deal of time and energy. Being an author you must ask yourself how you intend to tackle the issue? What are main elements of the topic? What are primary aspects of the topic? In order to avoid this dilemma, one needs to narrow down the topic according to the length assigned to you by professor. If you find anything confusing or doubtful, do not hesitate to contact your instructor/professor. It is better to be clear at the first stage instead of losing time and energy. Following given steps in this regard will be helpful for you.

1. By dividing the topic into components

Just be relaxed and cool down. Think about your topic and divide it into different components. Look at all of those components and choose one for yourself to write on. Just take an example when your journalism teacher assigns you to write an essay. You have got the topic "Journalism" which is too broad. There are infinite ways to write on it. So first of all, divide it into various components: Online Journalism, Broadcast Journalism, Print Journalism, Citizen Journalism and so on. 

Now you have picked Broadcast journalism. It is a good choice indeed. Broadcast journalism mainly falls in two categories entertainment and information. You choose entertainment. Again a wise choice. Entertainment also contains many thing such as Telefilms, drama serials, music, game shows, reality shows etc. just to count few of them.  Now you are interested in drama serials. Now ask yourself few questions. What do you want to write about TV serials? What motivated you to think about this topic? Do you want write on topic because you are sick of unnecessarily lengthy, slow-moving Pakistani serials? Do current Pakistani serials remind you of old 13-episode meaningful serials? If yes, your topic is narrowed as "The Fall of Pakistani Drama Serials". You nailed it. 

2. By considering your word limit

Always keep in mind the length of essay or writing piece assigned to you by the instructor. In this way you will be able to determine yourself the amount of information to be included in the piece. The length will also make you mindful of what information to fit in body of writing piece in order to support your thesis statement. For example, while in CSS, a candidate is asked to write an essay of at least 3,000 words.  They get enough space to cover almost all aspects of a topic in a given time and space. In such a lengthy space, a candidate can explore given topic in details with all it's implications and complexities. However, academic writing is a bit different in nature. In academic essay or writing piece, you are often assigned a word limit in which you have to limit your topic.

For instance, a student of mine showed desire to write on "Single National Curriculum". This is a very broad topic with it's pros, cons, causes, effects, implications. It is not possible to limit the topic into an essay of 2,000 words. Again one aspects of this topic such as "Time needed to apply Single National Curriculum in Pakistan" can be considered for writing. 

It does not end here. I intend to tell you few more tricks of narrowing down the topic. So stay connected and wait for my next blogpost. 

Lecture 03 | Choosing a topic

Well here we go. What I find most annoying in my teaching career is a student coming to me and when I asked him what do you want to write on. The student replies with "Sain, jaiko tawhan hukum kayo" (Sir, as you wish). It has nothing to do what I wish. It always depends upon your wish and choice instead. This is the beauty of creative writing that you are the master of your own fate. Unlike other academic courses, you are not imposed upon an assignment by the teacher. In creative writing, you have to choose what you want to do yourself. 
Now, since the instructor has given you a choice, again it becomes head ache to choose a topic. First of all, ask yourself "what are you interested in?". Every body has some likes and dislikes. There must be few things in which you take a great deal of interest such as sports, films, books, movies, TV serials, politics, online business to mention a few. Even you may choose to write on your home town which known to you more than anyone else. Here you have got millions of possibilities indeed. 
Moreover, you may choose any topic from your observation, experience and imagination as well. I suppose you all must be on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other SNSs. There are many issues and things trending in social networking sites everyday. Even if it's not trending you may notice some things and problematise it for your own writing. Here I would like to describe those two things separately. 
Firstly, you may get an idea for writing in your everyday experience.  For instance, once a friend of mine made fun of me when he heard I regularly pay bill of water and sewerage. That brief talk with him made me think about the matter deeply and I wrote a blog on it (Click here to read the mentioned blog). Travelling in local transport buses in Karachi is not a fun at all, hence you get the opportunity to interact with local populace and look at their issues by having a conversation with them. 
Secondly, there are few issues which become famous and get a high rate in trending on social issues such as #ColonelKiBiwi and many others. Just at the time of writing this blogpost I found an abusive trend on twitter for a female politician of Pakistan. Such issues occur on every day basis in our society. Even you may find other issues from social media which do not get any hashtag such as audience commenting on pictures of Iqra Aziz and Yasir Hussain. And Pakistani people teaching ethics to Turkish actress Esra Belgic and so on.  Such occurrences give you a chance to reflect over mentality of Pakistani people. 
Thirdly, you may get a topic from traditional media as well. Watching dramas is a fun indeed. You may write on Pakistani dramas, their contents, presentation, production and so on. Even you may compare them with foreign serials. You may watch TV news and see how news is presented on Pakistani TV channels as compared to foreign news channels. One can also watch repeated reports of child abuse in country and wonder why shouldn't I write on it.  
Fourthly, you may write on anything you are interested in. You are interested in watching serials, seasons, movies, sports. It is okay. You are fond of reading novels, travelogues, biographies, autobiographies, short stories. It is okay. You are interested in playing cricket, hockey, football, badminton etc. It is alright. You are interested in politics. No problem. Go ahead. From now on, think about all those issues from an eye of a writer. You will express yourself far better on those issues which are of your interest.   
All I want to say is that you have got limitless possibilities.  So what are you guys waiting for? Just start looking around for interesting topics to write on. 

Lecture 02 | Importance of Creative Writing

Well, a student may raise the question or think about we are living in twenty first century and the society is gradually becoming paperless. So why should we think about writing, let alone being creative? What is the importance of creative writing? These questions are essentially valid and merit answers. 
Firstly, writing is something like flying in the air. Personally and psychologically you feel a strong sense of gratification, satisfaction and achievement when your writing is published, shared on social networking sites and discussed among your circle of friends. It is like opening your heart and mind apart before your audience and telling them what you have been thinking. When you get a thumbs up or bravo message from family and friends, you feel far better.
Secondly, If you are not even published (which happens to every one countless times), there are many other advantages of creative writing as well. The practice enables you to develop and improve your skills of expressing artistically. As I often state there is no short cut to writing and it only depends upon practice, practice and practice. More practice will enable not only your expression but also develop your skill of creative thinking. It will boost your imagination and clarify your thoughts and put them in sequence.  
Thirdly, creative writing enhances your ability of critical writing, reading and comprehension as well. When you start writing, slowly and gradually you will feel that your comprehension is improving and you are critically evaluating other's writing. This exercise will greatly help in developing your communication skills and will enable you to argue and counter-argue not only in the writing form but also in speech. It also enhance your capability of analysis. 
Finally, in the last but not the least, there is a documented research that creative writers enjoy a great deal of freedom with their work and they enjoy far better improved physical, mental and emotional health. Of course, some times they also come under stress when they are stuck but this is part of life and take it easy. So what are you waiting for? Let's get started. 

Lecture 01 | Creative Writing: What it is and what it isn’t?

It is very difficult to define creative writing. It is even more difficult to categorise what is creative writing and what is not? Many people believe that any formal, precise and fact-based writing does not fall under creative writing. If we agree with them, we will have to keep journalistic writing, academic writing and technical writing off the limits. Another group of people also believe that creative writing is a part of English literature, therefore you may see that many centres of creative writing around the world are considered to be part of English departments.
There is no established and agreed upon definition of creative writing. This is something which ‘always depends upon’ what is being written. I assume discussion on what is not creative writing would be more beneficial to start with. What I believe is that, firstly, any writing which is based on presentation and description of facts (like reports by NGOs, a news on TV or newspaper etc.), summary, precis is not creative writing for the reasons that in such writing you describe some charts or tables, summarise someone else’s thoughts in your own words without disturbing the pristine beauty of original writing. In other words, we can say that such writings are reproductions not creative. Secondly, traditional or conventional writings such as writing applications, writing resume or CVs and any technical report upon something’s functionality, writing instruction manual of any gadget do not fall under creative writing. For such writings, like above, are aimed at describing functions of some gadget etc.
Few people’s claim of keeping off journalistic writings (say article, column, feature, editorial, reviews etc.), academic writings (books, book chapters, research papers) and professional forms of writing from creative writing is not justifiable. Those authors want to state that only literary genres fall under creative writing. However, reviews (on cars, gadgets, films, books, theatres etc.), journalistic writing (except news), and many sorts of professional writings are also part of creative writing. In those writings, writer thinks critically, organizes his/her arguments, concludes them logically with some evidence or examples which needs homework, time to prepare, critical thinking to cite appropriate examples, evidences and connecting two or more strands together.
To conclude we may carefully say that to mention a few genres part of creative writing is not justifiable. And giving verdict on other writing genres and keeping them off limits is also not justifiable. Technical reports, data based reports (without analysis or personal opinion) and summaries are not creative writing. One blogger has aptly defined creative writing as “…..anything that falls within the bounds of conventional or traditional academic, journalistic, professional, and technical literary forms” is creative writing. Therefore, we may carefully claim and say that journalistic genres (Columns, features, articles, profiles, editorials, investigative stories etc), literary genres (fiction as well as non-fiction) and academic writings (essays, thesis etc) do fall under the category of creative writing.