Image by Aaron Burden from Unsplash
I often seek to improve my own writing by looking at the works of those more successful than I am. There are three noticeable techniques used by Kathryn Schulz in “The Really Big One” that would enhance my own writing if used effectively: a flowing structure, mixed narrative elements, and a poetic use of metaphors.
The simplest technique I noticed Schulz using was her adeptness at creating a sense of proper structure, or flow, throughout her work. This sequential form of writing allows a work to breach various topics but keep the sense of rhythm or tidiness that may be easily lost when attempting to branch out a topic within a smaller work. There are many ways to create this connected structure: transitionary words—such as however, therefore, besides, finally, furthermore, etc.—and themes or sections being repeated through altered lens, as well as full transitionary sentences between one topic to the next are just a few of these methods. For instance, “Inside the lab is a walk-in freezer. Inside the freezer are floor-to-ceiling racks filled with cryptically labelled tubes, four inches in diameter and five feet long. Each tube contains a core sample of the seafloor. Each sample contains the history, written in seafloorese, of the past ten thousand years.” This example demonstrates how Kathryn Schulz uses transitionary sentences as incredible sequential writing tools to have a natural flow from sentence to sentence. Writing in such a way keeps the reader interested in the line of thought being presented and is more likely to have the audience continue reading to discover where the thought process is going to end.
Schulz’s second technique is representative of her ability to make use of all elements in narrative writing in a single written work and maintain proper use of each narrative element in context of the story. In “The Really Big One,” Schulz most commonly uses conflict, but all other elements are present. As an example, her story starts with a proper scene being laid: “When the 2011 earthquake and tsunami struck Tohoku, Japan, Chris Goldfinger was two hundred miles away, in the city of Kashiwa, at an international meeting on seismology. As the shaking started, everyone in the room began to laugh.” Her use of a proper scene descriptor at the beginning of the story helps ground the reader and introduces a “diving-board” of sorts with which readers may then jump off into deeper waters full of information. Of the ways Schulz uses the narrative elements, her use of dialogue stands out most for how sparingly she adopts it, and how meaningful the quotes she uses are. A memorable use of dialogue from Schulz is from the following example: “‘We can’t save them,’ Kevin Cupples says. ‘I’m not going to sugarcoat it and say, “Oh, yeah, we’ll go around and check on the elderly.” No. We won’t.’”
Now reaching the final method used by Schulz throughout her work “The Really Big One,” we reach the topic of metaphors, symbolism, analogies, and proverbs in writing. When we use metaphors, symbolism, or analogies our goals are to be elaborate, meaningful, poignant, and hard-hitting. A metaphor should leave the reader thinking. “For want of a nail, the war was lost; for fifteen independently insignificant errors, the jetliner was lost,” Kathryn Schulz wrote, in which she displays the use of a grim proverb explaining the importance of seemingly unimportant details or actions.
In all the ways that Kathryn Schulz is a talented writer, her works have taught me a level of fulfilmentto strive for in my own writing. With the three techniques—a connected structure, varied narrative elements, and the use of insightful metaphors—I will continue to improve my own works.
Science Writings 