Sara Dailey #007: Circle technique

          Ok, so it’s our final day of looking at Sara Dailey’s technique via her creative nonfiction piece, “The Memory Train.” Today it’s all about circle technique. If you look back to the first post of this week, you’ll see she began with a paragraph about Phineas Gage, a railway worker who LIVED after accidentally getting a metal rod shot through his skull and part of his brain. Then she slid into the real topic of her article–keeping memories, especially memories of her brother, and worrying about the day that the details may finally escape her. Now look at how she ends her article:

… I am left to write, document, record–to leave these words, my fictions and poetries, as a tether to tie [my brother] here. Or, perhaps, my words are but the slim metal tracks of trains, gleaming by moonlight where they are laid out in the darkness, a crosshatching of iron and wood across countryside–paths marking the way for me to follow someday.

          She circles back to the railway image, tying it to her brother in the process, wrapping up her article quite poetically. Circle technique involves more than a metaphor or a symbol that you come back to; for the reader, it’s a sign that your writing is coming to a nice, crisp finish. Very effective, to say the least.

Try this:

 For that chapter or poem or article that you’re trying to write, think of an object, some symbol that might take on added significance at the end. Use it at least at the beginning and end, and, for longer writings, you may wish to revisit it in the middle once as well. See if it adds a depth to what you’re saying, and watch for writers who use the technique effectively in their writing. You’ll start to notice it everywhere, likely in the work of your favourite authors.

Coming tomorrow: To start a new week of randomness, we’ll begin with a starter, a prompt–It’s a short one, but a good one! Tune in tomorrow…