Ba-Da-Bing!!
Ba-Da-Bing! - A Writing Strategy - Notes
Problem: The writer can see it, but the reader can't.
Solution: Ba-Da Bing!
The goal of good writing is to engage the reader so much that
he or she can imagine living the experience.
Using abstract words like horrifying, wonderful, delightful,
weird or anxious is like asking your reader to do all the work
for you. The writer (you!) has to show the reader what
horrifying, wonderful, delightful, weird or anxious is like.
Concrete, not abstract.
The ba-da bing strategy consists of three parts: where the
speaker was physically, what he/she saw (or any of the other
senses), and what he/she thought or felt.
1.
2.
Where your feet went
What you saw
3. What you thought or said
Ba-Da-Bing!
(action)
(see, taste, smell, touch, hear)
(comment, thought, reflection)
Slamming through the back door after school, I smelled the sweet
aroma of vanilla and chocolate. Mmmm, I thought. Cookies!
I raced down the stairs, dragging my little brother behind me. I spied
the Christmas tree and piles of presents. "Look", I said to him, "Santa
did come last night!"
When I walked up to the front of the room, I saw Mr. Joseph holding
the "all A" certificate. I realized that I had really made it.
Walking to the front of the gym, I saw Mr. Joseph holding the "all A"
certificate. I thought, "I made it."
Hiking on a Pennsylvania mountainside, my brother and I walked out of
the trees and into a meadow filled with wild blueberries. I reached into
a bush, plucked several berries, and popped them into my mouth. The
flavor of the berries, sweet and juicy, exploded on my tongue. My
brother and I ate as many handfuls of the berries as we could, soaking
up their sweetness with the afternoon sun.
Example in third person:
The young soldier trudged across the battlefield. The stench of death
assaulted his nostrils. Dejected, he remembered his thrill that morning
of finally getting to engage the enemy.