The Ladder of Abstraction: Part 1
"Write physically. Write with physical objects. Put physical objects in your essay."-John Maguire. Atlantic Magazine. "The Secret to Good Writing: It's About Objects, Not Ideas."In a creative writing book that I regularly attempt to steal from my brother, one chapter advises would-be authors to move up and down the ladder of abstraction. Mr. John Maguire, of header-quote fame, advises writers to add physical objects to their writing. He emphasizes the bottom of the ladder. I agree. The danger on the ladder lies in the middle, where words are somewhat conceptual and somewhat physical, and therefore one-hundred-percent confusing.Today's challenge is to stay at the bottom of the ladder for an entire passage, and use physical objects to represent the concepts you wish to explore.***He should have bought her the parrot. They had wandered into a pet store on their first date. "I've always wanted an animal, here. Growing up we had birds and dogs and cats, even a lizard." She had smiled at the parrot that could only say "Sale!" In her room on the third date, he saw jeweled little toucans and gemstone feathers she had collected, and parakeet pillows. He saw a future where he went to the store and bought her a Tiffany bracelet with little bird charms and she gave him a kiss and told him she would wear it and think of him. When her birthday came he spoke to a salesperson and learned that the price on a Tiffany bracelet was the same as eleven dinner-dates with her and decided that he should write her a letter instead. His pencil traced words like "always" and "feel" and "you are." She read it and told him it was sweet, the way a teacher speaks to a child. She stopped seeing him. He went to the pet store and listened to the parrot shout "Sale!" at customers, and realized that he should have bought it for her. Instead he brought it home in a cage and wondered what name to give it while it shouted "Sale!" at him from the coffee table.***Tomorrow, dialogue and voice!Getting Started: 2Character: 2Point of View and Tone: 2Plot and Narrative: 2Dialogue and Voice: 1Descriptive Language and Setting: 1Revision: 1Overall: 1*Level 1*