Let's face it, some of us have opinions on a variety of issues and we enjoy giving those opinions to others. In fact, oftentimes, we NEED to express those opinions to others. We view life as a continual series of problems and solutions - a series of puzzles that can be analyzed and solved. Of course, not everyone wants to sit and listen to someone with an opinion because...well...they might have opinions of their own that differ and, while they might like expressing their thoughts as well, they might not like the potential debate or heated discussion (argument) that could follow.
However, exchanging opinions one-on-one with someone is not the same as expressing them in print. Basically, this is because we're not put on the spot for an immediate answer, agreement or rebuttal from anyone. Printed opinions are "mind-fuel." There is no give and take and nothing is required - no visible reaction is expected and no expressed conclusion needs to be reached in order to complement or counter the person who stated their thoughts. That might be one of the reasons why Op-Eds are so popular. Many people enjoy being quietly pleased that someone else agrees with them, or quietly outraged that they don't...possibly a quiet kind of validation that they're right or that the other person is wrong.
So, it's no wonder that newspapers devote a section to opinion pieces. If you're interested in learning how to write editorials for newspapers, Jason Reeher has put together a course devoted to that: Writing Newspaper Editorials. In 4 major lessons, you'll learn the types of writings available for you to pursue, how to write within those available category types and how to choose the topics to discuss. I found it gave a surprising clue regarding deciding what to write about - something I might not have focused on in my approach toward selecting a topic. Jason also gives interesting advice about observing what is important to people of a community, including websites such as Suite101, and gives sound reasoning as to why this is important. The links to other relevant Suite101 articles that he's included helps to provide an even more solid foundation.
The course starts you out learning how to write short opinion pieces and moves on to show you how to construct longer, more involved essays. It also starts you out submitting to newspapers in your back yard (so to speak) and then prepares you for submitting to nationally published newspapers. A "four-step process" for writing letters to editors is discussed, and if you ever wanted to write literary or media reviews (books, movie, music), this course even gives you insight into that type of writing.
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Regenia G. Butcher's Ethnic Crafts topic, please visit the Discussions page.