How to create content: The Topic Funnel*

1. Make a quick list of things you are interested in or know a lot about, or just start with your general topic.
2. Pick one thing from the list. 
3. Put that back into the funnel.
4. Make another list from that one thing.
5. Pick one thing from the list.
6. Put that back in the funnel.
7. Keep going until you find a NARROW slice of the topic to write about with a list under it.
8. Write a statement based on the list.
9. Flip the statement into a question.
10. Put the question at the top of your paper and write for 10 minutes without stopping. This freewrite will be the seed of your blog post. Share it with me and I will help you take the next step.

Here's an example of my list ~ 

writing

• teaching writing

• NaNoWriMo

• plot  

• novels 

• poetry 

• young adult fiction 

• fantasy 

• creative non-fiction 

• submissions 

• memoir 

• writing groups

I choose one thing from the list that appeals to me at the time. Today, I choose 

teaching writing 

• opening hooks

• sensory detail

• scenic writing

• dialogue

• dialogue attribution or "speech tags"

• conflict

• point of no return

• POV

• pantoums

• strong verbs

• first person, past tense     

I choose one thing from the list that appeals to me at the time. Today, I will pick 

"first person, past tense."

• helps me pick a specific, one time event to describe 

• keeps me from preaching/teaching style writing 

• allows the audience to hear my voice 

• easier to write 

• watch for tense switches 

• personal narrative 

• fiction POV that narrows the scope of the story to what the character sees, feels, knows, thinks, and experiences.

I decide that this will be the topic to develop for my freewrite. 

I write my statement: Writing in first person, past tense allows writers to create more compelling non-fiction, and is also a great point of view choice for fiction.

I decide that the fiction part is too much, not narrow enough. I decide to write about that separately, so I narrow it down to just the use of "first person, past tense" for personal narrative.

This shrinks my statement down to: Writing in first person, past tense allows writers to create more compelling non-fiction.

Now, I flip this into a question:

 "How does writing in first person, past tense allow writers to create more compelling non-fiction?"

Here's my topic for the freewrite, and I already have a list of things that I might include as I begin.

 * The Topic Funnel was developed by Julie Bogart of Brave Writer

Bloggers!

This blog is about the young writers at Ocean. Please comment positively on any posts. Look for great openings, dialogue that sounds real, things that make you laugh, great sensory detail that help you smell, see, hear, or feel the story. Be specific about what you like. Let's help one another SHOW instead of TELL.