by Lisa Hiton
Opinion writing can take many forms. At Write the World, we’ve been exploring the world of book reviews and film reviews—now that we’ve been practicing in these focused formats, it’s time to test out our skills in broader strokes by entering the world of op-eds.
In this digital age in which we live, personal viewpoints are shared more widely than at any other time in history. From 140 character tweets, to Facebook posts, to digitized newspapers and magazines, it seems that everyone’s opinion (on nearly every subject) is available to us with the click of a button. And yet, in this echo chamber, it can be very difficult to spot excellent opinion pieces. Not all tweets are created equally—nor are blogs, articles, letters to editors, and the like. It is our work as readers to sift through the monotonous noise to decipher that which is excellent and worthy of our attention.
Writing Outstanding Opinion Pieces
The job of an op-ed writer is to look at an issue—one in politics, education, economics, community, culture, lifestyle, etc.—and draw out a new perspective (in your own voice) on the mainstream conversation. At the root, this usually comes from having an unanswered question about the subject that you seek to work through in writing.
To answer these questions, a writer needs a bit of research and a lot of attitude. Unlike journalism—a field whose cornerstone is dispassion—the op-ed writer needs an impassioned point of view. In fact, as we learn in the opening of Writing Outstanding Opinion Pieces by Nancy Loewen, commentaries found in print and magazines “were often called op-ed pieces because they were printed opposite of the editorial page”. While this may be hard to imagine with the advancements of technology, it is a quintessential element to understanding op-eds as being somehow oppositional to the mainstream ideologies about your topic of choice.
We all have opinions on nearly everything we encounter in our daily lives. From our sense of style, to taste in music, to preferred foods, there is something in the things you love and loathe that give you a voice—your unique view on the world and your role in it. Whether you want to write about an aspect of a beloved hobby, the latest Student Council saga at your school, or parts of your community that you hope to change, Loewen’s guidance can take an opinion and turn it into an excellent piece of writing.
Writing Outstanding Opinion Pieces by Nancy Loewen: Loewen’s field guide for budding op-ed writers gives equal focus to learning the techniques of successful op-ed writing and selecting great subjects to write about. Loewen’s book takes writers from the blank page to publishable material with writing prompts along the way.
Op-Ed Selections
The View From Flyover Country: Dispatches from the Forgotten America by Sarah Kendzior: This book collects Kendzior’s essays from 2012-2014 and ranges in topics from the US economy, to the abandonment of the American heartland, to the loss of opportunities for youth, and so on. The pages were written before America’s current predicament, but continue to be a source for understanding America’s contemporary political backdrop. Most importantly, the voice is readable without being entirely autoethnographic—that is, relying too heavily on the writer’s own personal reflections and experiences.
- The introduction of Kedzior’s book claims that her book makes a case for “the audacity of despair”. How does this play out through her essays? Why must Kedzior convince readers to learn about their despair?
- What is the role of political rhetoric in this book? How and where does Kedzior break political jargon using criticism? Why does she do this?
- What does Kedzior’s title point to? What is her “view” on contemporary America? What does she bring readers to support her view?
The Best American Magazine Writing 2018 by Sid Holt: Holt’s anthology brings together pieces from various magazines that show the power of journalism. From commentary, to writers placing themselves in the prison system, to various approaches to point of view (or, P.O.V.), these essays show how the varying stakes journalists endure in an effort to capture cultural truths can generate diversity of form, style, and tone in the world of the op-ed.
- Which pieces in this anthology are most interesting to you? Why? Which ones cause the most resistance? Why?
- How might the subjects of the most loved and most loathed essays in this anthology inform your own hopes as an op-ed writer?
- Select an essay that resonated with you. What about the writer’s opinion is clear to you? What draws you to this voice?
And so, dear writers, as before you turn to the land of twitter where there are more voices available than ever before, take a look at these texts. Use them as a guide to help you shape your own opinion so that it doesn’t get lost in a sea of ubiquity or the echo chamber of cyberland, but rather rises out of the noise to turn into something else: your voice.
About Lisa
Lisa Hiton is an editorial associate at Write the World. She writes two series on our blog: The Write Place where she comments on life as a writer, and Reading like a Writer where she recommends books about writing in different genres. She’s also the interviews editor of Cosmonauts Avenue and the poetry editor of the Adroit Journal.