Hello, and welcome to technique four of strategy seven attitudes technique for states, don't expect to have the last word on a subject. That has been one of the hardest things for me to learn as a writer. And what that means is that a lot of times we're well intentioned, and we want our peace even if we don't do it in a vain way, or we don't do it consciously. A lot of times what we end up doing is thinking, this has to be perfect. I need to say everything about this, and it might just be perfectionistic and unconscious. But a lot of people do have that problem.
Don't you know, so just don't expect to have the last word on a subject. Think small, think small. Many well intentioned writers feel obligated to cover everything on a topic, but this simply isn't possible. narrow your choice to a corner of a broader topic and do that cornered justice. And that's why I tell my students unless you're writing a book on something, even when you write a book, you're still going to narrow your topic some. But the scope of a piece is another thing you want to think about when you set up your Unity's and your rhetorical situation.
And so in terms of not expecting to have the last word on the subject, I'll tell my students you can't write an entire paper on all of gun control, pick a particular law, pick a particular state, pick a particular segment of time and then make an argument on that and do justice to it. And that's a lot better and that's not trying to have the last authority on it. So do justice to something once you narrow it, make it focus make make it near it, make it matter, and then go from there. Here are some examples from famous novels, JD Salander. Excuse me JD Salinger doesn't write about every teenage angst he writes about holding for agar state. Pennsylvania, john Steinbeck does Write about the Great Depression.
He doesn't write about all of the Great Depression. He writes about George Milton and lynnie small focusing on their individual stories during the Depression. And so that's an example of famous novels is it applies to fiction, nonfiction, poetry all genres, to pick a small corner of a subject, and do that justice Don't try to write about, I'm not saying you can't write about grand topics and stuff like that. But a lot of times when something is broad, it also tends to be vague in general, and then there's nothing new. You're not saying anything new about it. So when you pick something within that, you're doing more justice to it, ironically, and it's more focused, and you know, what your ideas just come across in a very explicit and clear way that engages the reader.
It's like using concrete imagery, in poetry, maybe to represent a broader concept. People write about love all the time, but when you use a fruit tree, To represent love, that gives it a clearer image and you do justice to it in the way that you're trying to do it instead of making it broad cliche vague and abstract. So just keep in mind, too don't expect to have the last word on a subject