Writing for Social change

“…publish, or democracy perishes." Cornelia Wells

Florence Nightingale Photo from Google images

Martin Luther King, Jr. Photo from Google images

Social change entrepreneurship rarely happens without the contribution of social change texts that help the entrepreneur achieve her or his ends.

“Most of us don’t write much. We don’t have time. We can’t get started. We don’t think we have the tools. We don’t want to rock the boat—at least not right now….” Louise Dunlap, Undoing the Silence

The Freewriting Tool The Freewriting Tool undoes silence and helps you explore your experiences, ideas, and beliefs. It is a way to write quickly and freely, without judging yourself or evaluating what you write.

The Process Tool The Process Tool helps you work step by step, generating ideas, gathering information, organizing ideas, writing a rough draft, incubating the text, and revising it, instead of trying to write a polished draft in one sitting.

The Thinking Tool The Thinking Tool helps you think critically about ideas and organize them for maximum effectiveness. When you use this tool you use lists, conversations, grouping, the “funnel,” diagrams, metaphors, storytelling, and more to think and communicate powerfully.

The Audience Tool The Audience Tool helps you write for maximum impact. Using this tool you will ask questions such as: Who are my audiences? What are their values, beliefs, and interests? How can I appeal to them? What reader expectations shape how I should write this genre for this particular public forum?

The Feedback Tool The Feedback Tool helps a writer listen and respond to others in ways that stimulate the writer’s power to improve his or her own writing. This non-judgmental feedback helps us see if our message is coming across clearly and if our text is achieving its ends.

The Word-Power Tool The Word-Power Tool helps you look at your writing through your reader’s eyes, cutting words where possible, connecting ideas so readers can follow your logic, and using high energy language.

PUTTING PRINCIPLES TO PRACTICE

Weekend U

The Freewriting Tool What ideas, conversations, observations, or experiences have stood out to you thus far today? Write for four minutes, without stopping or correcting yourself. What makes something you just wrote about so important? Pose a question from the point of view of someone who will not agree with what you want to say and try to answer it. Write down an illustration or a metaphor that might help to explain one of your thoughts.

The Process, Thinking, and Audience Tools Expectations for Letters to the Editor Keep it short (usually around 150 words) Begin by making a clear connection to an article from the previous seven days, a recent event, or an ongoing issue of current interest Address a contradiction (hint: put the word “but” in front of a key line that points out such a contradiction) Contribute a new idea (a personal experience, statistic, or observation) Offer a succinct sound bite (usually at the end) Use a respectful, generous spirited tone Get it down! (Compose a draft.)

The Feedback and Word Power Tools Gather in groups of four and read your letters. What words and phrases stood out to you? What message came through? Pick one letter to share with the whole group (if time allows).

The six tools described in this PowerPoint Program are taken from Undoing the Silence: Six Tools for Social Change Writing, by Louise Dunlap