English Hacking

In November 2009, Twitter made a change with its long-time tag line that has sat atop the status update box since its launch of the service. By the change, Twitter users are prompted to share the answer to the question, "What's happening," which was previously "what are you doing?" While the real-time lifelogging service nudges you to share the moment by filling in the box of "what's happening," your writing in most cases are not in the present continuous tense. Typically, you write something looking back on past events or keep an episodic memories specifically asking you "So, what happened?" The answer is a kind of story, a short autobiographical narrative you might create on the spot. These stories about what we did or wish we'd done remind us of who we are. They also bind us closer to others. In autobiographical writing, you set down a story of an event or person in your life. By writing autobiographically, you show part of your life with others. You also benefit from writing your story and can learn more about yourself. To write a good autobiographical piece, you need to consider the following guidelines:

(A) Write true events from your real life presented in logical order
(B) Write the story in such a way to build the reader's interest
(C) Write a problem or conflict that you have not expected before but that has developed to a serious stage
(D) Write how the problem or conflict was resolved and illustrate how the writer or another person has to resolve.
(E) Use the vivid details to give a clear sense of characters and places.

Now, I can sense that many of you are bored with this textbook style of English hacking. You might wonder what the hack this guy is talking about. Well, in fact, even I am wondering if I'm doing the right thing in guiding readers to gain access to the secrete notebook of best writers. However, one thing is clear. My goal here is to provide a series of step-by-step lessons for creative writing in journalism and blogism. The reason I first mentioned this autobiographical writing is simply because people love reading others’ memoir. People also love writing their memoir. A book review in Today’s Wall Street Journal asks if there is anyone, anything, left on the planet unrecorded in a memoir, from St. Augustine to Oprah Winfrey's cousin. Autobiography has risen to predominance and of course has gone through changes in its literary context and style.

But after "Memoir" turns to the modern era, we start feeling a certain lack of artistic or intellectual nourishment. Apart from a few pages devoted to Holocaust memoirs or narratives of black experience, the book turns into a history of the popular memoir—of the development of the memoir industry.

As a result, we even observed a big success of a dog memoir. Okay, now, time’s up and I’ve got to go to bed. Before I go to bed, I’d like to link the excerpt of Ben Yagoda’s book 'Memoir: A History.' Enjoy!

We write everyday using a pen or type on a keyboard. You are a writer. There’s no big mystery about being a writer. However, you have to take time, efforts, and practices to be an effective and powerful writer. Being an effective writer requires you to follow the same course of actions as Chris Botti did to become a renowned trumpeter – practice, practice, practice, and be friends with Sting. Okay, okay, it’s not music business, so you don’t need to consider the Sting ingredient in the success formula. Then, I suggest you replace the Sting thing with IDEAS. That’s right. You’ve got to be friends with IDEAS. This does not simply means that you need to be open to others’ ideas. It means you’ve got to share your ideas successfully with others. Many writers may have the same topics to write about but each writer must have his or her own ideas about each topic. Your ideas are what will make your writing different from the writing of others. Don’t simply offer readers information they already know: share your unique ideas and insights.

David Halberstam, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who died in 2007 by a car accident shared his last piece of advice on writing in Telling True Stories. Below are some excerpts from Halberstam’s chapter in this amazing book. 


To write good narrative you must be able to answer the question: What is the story about? The idea, the concept, is critical to narrative journalism. Moving the idea from genesis to fruition is what it’s all about. [...] Once you have the idea, it just flows out. This is perhaps the best advice I can offer. Taking an idea, a central point, and pursuing it, turning it into a story that tells something about the way we live today, is the essence of narrative journalism. [...] The idea is vital. Telling a good story demands a great conception, a great idea for why the story works – for what it is and how it connects to the human condition. You must be able to point to something larger. [David Halberstam, The Narrative Idea, pp. 10-11]

얼마 전에 a77ila님께서 영어해킹을 함께 하자고 제안하셨는데, 길게 고민하지 않고 바로 하겠다고 답장을 드렸습니다. 무슨 쓸 내용이 있어서라기보다는 a77ila님께서 하자는 것이면 기름통 지고 불속으로 뛰어들자는 것 빼고는 함께 할 수 있다는 생각때문이었습니다. (답장에는 기름통지고 불속에 뛰어드는 것도 한다고 했지만, 공식적으로 말하는 자리니만큼 이건 사양하겠습니다).

어쨌거나 덥석 하겠다고 약속드렸으니, 뭔가 쓰기는 써야겠는데 여기 아카이브에 쌓인 a77ila님의 글과 노력을 생각하면 트위터(@bedtimeenglish)에 기록하듯이 그냥 휙 증발해 버리는 일과성 표현들을 끄적거려서는 안되겠다는 생각이 들더군요. 그래서 생각한 것이 인터넷 시대 저널리즘과 블로기즘을 위한 글쓰기 강좌입니다. 물론 영어로 기사쓰고 블로그글 쓰는데 필요한 기본에 대해 기록하는 것입니다.

인터넷을 통한 글쓰기 도구와 출판 기술이 발전하면서 이제 우리는 글의 홍수시대에 살고 있습니다. 글이 넘쳐나고 그러다보니 이곳 저곳에서 글이 솟아 오르는데 그 모양새가 가히 망치로 패주기를 희망하며 불쑥불쑥 삐져나오는 두더쥐 게임의 두더쥐같다는 생각입니다. 이 두더쥐게임같은 글쓰기 시대의 문제는 글을 내보이는데만 관심있지, 어떻게 글을 잘 쓸 것인가에 대한 고민을 하지 않는데 있다고 봅니다. 물론 이렇게 문제점을 인식하는 나 역시 기본에서 벗어나, 블로그에 신중하지도 정제되지도 못한 한마디로 되먹지 못한 글을 올리 적이 한 두번이 아니기에 내가 제기한 비판에서 자유로울 수는 없습니다.

그래서 이 저널리즘/블로기즘 해킹 연재를 통해 기본기있는 글을 쓰기 위해 어떤 노력이 필요한 가에 대해 고민해보고자 합니다. 이런 취지라면 이 연재가 독자를 위한 서비스 이전에 글쓰는 이 본인을 위한 자구책이라는 것을 눈치챌 수 있을 것입니다. 물론 이 잉글리쉬 해킹 블로그의 개설 목적대로, 기본적으로는 영어로 어떻게 글을 쓸 것인가에 대해 이야기를 할 예정입니다. 하지만 영어에 앨러지가 있는 독자들도 이 강좌의 한국말 설명 부분을 통해 자신의 글쓰기에 도움이 되는 정보를 얻기를 희망합니다.