LESSON: Digging Beneath the Surface

Writing Toward Home - Georgia Heard

Digging Beneath the Surface

Begin with your neighborhood. Beyond what anyone's told you, what do you really see? Do a little research: Find out it's history. Look into people's faces, watch their gestures to find out what they're not saying. Challenge any stereotype about people, neighborhoods, cities that you hear. Accept no one's vision but your own. Examine the stereotypes in your writing. Is the word dark always applied to anything negative or bad? There's a stereotype you need to challenge.