The Next BFB Homework Assignment: Profiles and Portraits

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In each newsletter, I provide a prompt for a blog post. (I call these "homework assignments," although they're obviously not mandatory and not graded :-P) If you feel like participating, you can put up a post in the designated time frame, send me an email telling me where to find it, and I'll feature the posts in the next newsletter and on the website. Writing to a prompt is often a good way of practicing writing skills and getting out of your comfort zone. If you feel like tweeting about any of these "homework assignments", please use the hashtag #BFBhw.

You can read about the previous assignment here. As you can see, there wasn't much of a response, which is why I'm giving you a lot of time to work on the next one! Also, I'll be traveling at the end of the month, so the next newsletter will be delayed anyways. Let's say this assignment is due May 1. It was announced in the last newsletter with an earlier due date, but you can ignore that.

The assignment: Profiles!

Pick somebody in the food industry - the chef at your favorite restaurant, your neighborhood fishmonger, a maker of artisan cheeses, anyone who does something with food - and interview him or her. In-person interviews are always best, but if you can only catch your person by phone or email, that could work too. You can format your post as a transcript of the interview, but better yet, challenge yourself to work it into an essay-style profile. Bonus points for an intriguing photograph of your subject. If you have time, try to get a quick interview with other people who know your subject. Quotes from other sources will enhance your story.

Check out this profile of Alice Waters for inspiration. Note the successful use of first person - the interviewer puts himself in the story, and it works. In journalism, this doesn't always work, but in blogging, it's generally encouraged. Other details that make this profile engaging: present tense descriptions, often humorous ("And now, here she is, tears welling, voice tremulous, apparently about to start sobbing into her Blue Heron Farm little gem lettuce salad. Which is a shame, because it's rather a nice salad.") Historical context (what has she done?) and present context (what is she doing now?). Plenty of quotes.

Details are important; write down everything you see. Numbers, brand names, colors. Most of it will never be used in the story, but a few well-placed details will really bring it to the next level. (Refer back to the above quote. Doesn't "Blue Heron Farm little gem lettuce salad" make it so much more interesting than if the writer had just said "salad"?)

If you're going to include a portrait of your subject, take a look at this informative tutorial on environmental portraits. ("Environmental" isn't a nature word here; it refers to portraits taken in the subject's living or working environment.)

If you feel so inclined, please include a note at the top or bottom of your post mentioning that this is a BostonFoodBloggers.com "homework assignment."

You have until May 1...start writing! And please leave a comment here if you have any other examples of great profiles written about people in the food industry, good environmental portraits, etc.

Homework Assignment #1 Results: Photo-less Restaurant Reviews in 500 Words

If you read the first BFB newsletter a couple weeks ago, you probably already know about the new "homework" feature. To promote creativity, blogger skills, and (hopefully) having fun while writing, I'll be putting a blog prompt in each newsletter - an "assignment" to write a blog post adhering to certain guidelines. I'll be highlighting completed assignments in the next newsletter as well as here on the site, in a post just like this one. Want to get in on future assignments? Newsletter #2 will be going out later today! If you're not already on the mailing list, you can sign up by entering your email address into that box in the right sidebar that says "Join Our Mailing List!" Newsletters will go out twice a month or less.

The first assignment was to write a restaurant review in 500 words. The catch? No photos. This was meant to promote descriptive writing. I also encouraged avoidance of words like tasty, yummy, and delicious.

The results? Well, only three people (plus me) completed the assignment. (Did I miss yours? Let me know!) Hopefully more of you will be interested in the next one! The reviews:

• Boston Bruncher's Dine & Dash! by Tales From A Kitchen Misfit
• Savin Bar and Kitchen by Travel, Wine, and Dine
• The Best Chicken Kabobs for My Money...In 500 Words or Less by Eat.Live.Blog
• Coriander Bistro: A Multi-Use Name by Fork it over, Boston! (me)

The lesson: While many blogs have fantastic photography, most of us have found ourselves at one time or another armed only with a cell phone camera in a restaurant as dark as a cave. In these situations, it's often better to write a concise, descriptive review - text-only - rather than accentuate a list of every item consumed with endless dark, blurry photos that portray the food in an unflattering (or incoherent) way.

When writing descriptively, it's important not to go completely overboard, using flowery sentences and elaborate lists of adjectives. (I've always been a fan of this list of failed similes and metaphors, allegedly collected from high school essays. I'm unsure of the original source, but I know I saw them somewhere online as far back as 2003.) See also: purple prose.

A quick Google search reveals plenty of lists of overused words in food writing (such as this, this, and this.) While you may not agree with every item on those lists, they're a good starting point for words to try to banish from your blog posts. In my own writing, I know I overuse delicious, decent, and several others. I also try to avoid using moist because I've met an astonishing number of people who hate that word, and I always avoid savory because I hate that word. I have no idea why it bothers me so much. I do believe there's a place for everything, though. If you truly believe you just had the best meal ever in the history of your existence in the world, by all means, use delicious, amazing, wonderful.

In case you're curious, here's a list of adjectives used in the completed homework assignments (I skipped sections of the posts that weren't part of the actual restaurant review; numbers in parentheses indicate multiple usages):

acceptable, affordable, amazing, American-accessible, at odds, basic, best, blandest, briny, cheap (2), cozy, creamy (2), crispy, dangerous, dark (2), daring, delicious, disappointing, diverse, down-to-earth, earthy, eclectic, encouraging, exceptional, family-friendly, fantastic, fast, favorite (2), filling, flavorful (2), fluffy, friendly, froufrou, full, glistening, good (3), great, healthy (3), laid back, light (2), local (4), loud, natural, nice (2), off, ooey gooey, packed, perfect, pure, real (2), relevant, reliable (2), right, sad, salty (2), scintillating (2), small (2), soft (3), solid, straight-backed, straight-forward, strong, stuffy, subtle, superb, sweet (4), tangy, tasty, tender, traditional, typical, upscale, usual, warm (2), well (2), whopping, wide

What words do you overuse in your blog posts? What words do you wish you never had to see or hear again? Do you have a favorite writing resource (website or book) with information about writing descriptively?

Be sure to come back tomorrow; I'll be posting the first half of a guest post by Cristin Hoover (The Four Seasonings) about writing restaurant reviews!

Also be sure to sign up for the mailing list (in the box in the right sidebar) if you'd like to receive future "homework assignments." The next newsletter goes out today!