Advice columns have always been popular in society with columns like "Dear Abby" which created a structured form of advice where the seeker of advice comes out with some sugar-coated phrases and little to no knowledge of the person behind those words. Cheryl Strayed broke from this form completely in her column, "Dear Sugar", and this book, Tiny Beautiful Things, is a compilation of some of these incredible letters. One thing that I took away from this book was how important it is to write for your specific audience but, more importantly, to choose how you will relate to them. Cheryl Strayed could've chosen to write her column in the same sweet but impersonal way as those columnists who came before her. However, she completely changed the way her audience of advice seekers saw her and interacted with her. Instead of repeating phrases of advice with little meaning attached to them, Cheryl shared stories of her own life, as they related to this advice seekers specific question/problem, which could be happy or sad or tragic. One example of this is a letter in response to the question WTF? where Cheryl details the sexual abuse she suffered as a child saying, "My father’s father made me jack him off when I was three and four and five." She shared her awful experience in the hope that it will help her reader. In doing this, Cheryl pulled her audience into her arms instead of keeping them at arm's reach. This created interest surrounding her column because her audience felt that she truly cared about her. Reading this book taught me that it is important to understand your audience and consider how you will relate to them through your writing. Another thing I took away from this book was how important it is to be genuine and original. As I've already stated, Cheryl's column is special because she chose to treat advice columns differently than how they were being treated; she reinvented them. The most noticeable way that she did this was through her genuine writing style. Advice columns are often known for their sugar coated cliches but Cheryl was all for honestly; she would tell the reader what they needed to know which may not necessarily be what they wanted to hear. Although this was very different from what was expected, it seemed to work as her audiences appreciated the honest answers she would provide that really made them consider their problems. Cheryl's responses would be a combination of brutal honesty with a suggestion for what the reader should do; "Most things will be okay eventually, but not everything will be...Acceptance is a small, quiet room." This level of honesty and originality present in her letters is something I hope to achieve; it pulls the reader in but also has the ability to actual help them instead of providing the allusion of help. The final thing that I took away from this book was something more abstract about writing in general; the idea of inspiration, what inspires us to write and the power that our writing has to inspire others. Cheryl directly shows through her columns where her inspiration lies; by telling stories of her marriages and childhood, she shows her reader why she does what she does. In reading her responses, I was not only reminded of how our personal inspiration affects our writing but also how other writing can inspire us. Cheryl's advice is personal and specific to whatever letter she is responding to but it can also be easily used toward your own life. Cheryl showed how she was inspired to respond to this letters and in doing that, was also able to spark change in her reader. I learned from this that all good writing is inspired by something and all good writing has the ability to inspire.
One thing that I took away from this book was how important it is to write for your specific audience but, more importantly, to choose how you will relate to them. Cheryl Strayed could've chosen to write her column in the same sweet but impersonal way as those columnists who came before her. However, she completely changed the way her audience of advice seekers saw her and interacted with her. Instead of repeating phrases of advice with little meaning attached to them, Cheryl shared stories of her own life, as they related to this advice seekers specific question/problem, which could be happy or sad or tragic. One example of this is a letter in response to the question WTF? where Cheryl details the sexual abuse she suffered as a child saying, "My father’s father made me jack him off when I was three and four and five." She shared her awful experience in the hope that it will help her reader. In doing this, Cheryl pulled her audience into her arms instead of keeping them at arm's reach. This created interest surrounding her column because her audience felt that she truly cared about her. Reading this book taught me that it is important to understand your audience and consider how you will relate to them through your writing.
Another thing I took away from this book was how important it is to be genuine and original. As I've already stated, Cheryl's column is special because she chose to treat advice columns differently than how they were being treated; she reinvented them. The most noticeable way that she did this was through her genuine writing style. Advice columns are often known for their sugar coated cliches but Cheryl was all for honestly; she would tell the reader what they needed to know which may not necessarily be what they wanted to hear. Although this was very different from what was expected, it seemed to work as her audiences appreciated the honest answers she would provide that really made them consider their problems. Cheryl's responses would be a combination of brutal honesty with a suggestion for what the reader should do; "Most things will be okay eventually, but not everything will be...Acceptance is a small, quiet room." This level of honesty and originality present in her letters is something I hope to achieve; it pulls the reader in but also has the ability to actual help them instead of providing the allusion of help.
The final thing that I took away from this book was something more abstract about writing in general; the idea of inspiration, what inspires us to write and the power that our writing has to inspire others. Cheryl directly shows through her columns where her inspiration lies; by telling stories of her marriages and childhood, she shows her reader why she does what she does. In reading her responses, I was not only reminded of how our personal inspiration affects our writing but also how other writing can inspire us. Cheryl's advice is personal and specific to whatever letter she is responding to but it can also be easily used toward your own life. Cheryl showed how she was inspired to respond to this letters and in doing that, was also able to spark change in her reader. I learned from this that all good writing is inspired by something and all good writing has the ability to inspire.