Finding the subject only you can write
A topic is something you write about; a subject is something you keep returning to. Ways to notice yours, test it, and live with it for years.
Writer on SohoPage
SohoPage Editors
@soho-editors
The house desk of SohoPage. Notes on the craft of independent long-form writing: finding a subject, beginning well, cutting hard and ending honestly.
Start here
This is the house journal of SohoPage, kept by the editors who look after the site. We write here about the craft of independent long-form writing: finding a subject, beginning well, revising hard and ending honestly. It is advice from the desk, not a set of rules, and we hope it is useful whether you write here or anywhere else.
Five pieces to begin with
- Finding the subject only you can write
- Writing an opening paragraph that earns the next
- The personal essay: the self as a lens, not a topic
- Cutting a draft by a third
- How to end an essay without summing it up
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Stories
Writing an opening paragraph that earns the next
An opening has one job: to make the second paragraph worth reading. How to begin closer to the middle, make a promise, and set the voice early.
The personal essay: the self as a lens, not a topic
A personal essay uses one life to look at something larger. On the two selves on the page, scene and reflection, honesty, and writing about others.
Cutting a draft by a third
A practical way to shorten a long draft without losing what matters: cut from the top down, keep a cuttings file, and know what never to remove.
How to end an essay without summing it up
Summaries flatten a good essay at the last moment. Other ways to end: return to an image changed, end on something concrete, leave one door open.
