18
« on: Jan 17, 2009, 05:22 PM »
So I'm going to offer my thoughts on choosing a good topic.
Write about a topic that interests YOU
I read an article on photography that stated that you're more likely to make good photographs of things you want to take pictures of, then just doing work because it is work. I think this is true, as the article said - if you want to take pictures of kittens - take pictures of kittens.
On that same note, Gary Larson stated that as an artist you should be putting forward your own ideas, if people are sympathetic to your interests they will enjoy your work.
You're more likely to spend more time on and do better work if it revolves around themes you are interested in. Very few people can take a subject they do not like and write about it well. For example, an ornithologist would write a better article about hummingbirds for National Geographic than they would an article about Diesel Peugeots for Car & Driver.
Of course you also have to write about it in a way that makes the subject interesting so that people will actually read your story. For instance if you wanted to make a story about collecting stamps, 200 pages of a guy going to antique stores and searching ebay for stamps isn't going to be very interesting. It'd barely be interesting to fellow stamp collectors.
Although the subject is stamps, you can try for a broader theme - maybe he is searching for an especially rare legendary stamp - maybe he is putting together a collection to take the grand prize at the international stamp collectors reunion. Maybe there is somebody competing against him for the title at the reunion and he is also searching for the legendary rare stamp! - In any event doing something like this takes the theme from just stamps to competition - which is something more people are interested in than collecting stamps.
This is just an idea, I'm not saying you have to take a mundane topic then turn it into a epic quest to find the blood stained stamp on the letter McKinnley had in his vest pocket when he was assassinated in order defeat the Nefarious Collector Steven Jenkins at the biggest stamp collecting competition in history...
Just that if you choose a really arcane topic, you might want to explore ways of making it appealing to a wider audience.
You might have passion for a topic that lots of people can readily appreciate, such as romance or sports (not that these can never be focused on very specific subjects either - just that they are broadly appealing from the get go).
More thoughts later.