INTRODUCTION

Your finished pieces of writing may seem like poems or short short stories or something like journal entries. In this lesson, we are going to talk about a form of writing called a "vignette."

A vignette is the name for the piece of writing that comes from clustering. It can be poetry or short stories or thoughts that have a circular nature.

You actually have now written six vignettes, but they are rough because we haven’t really discussed the art of vignette writing yet. We will do so in the Perspective section of this lesson.

PERSPECTIVE: THE VIGNETTE

The above statement was taken from the book Writing the Natural Way. We are going to be exploring vignette writing.

A vignette can be any length, though it is usually a brief sketch. It can be a free verse poem (no rhymes) or it can even be an imagined dialogue between people, animals, or even things. The most important thing to remember about vignette writing is that it is a "whole" piece. A vignette is complete unto itself. Here is an example of a vignette that was written by a student who clustered the word "bend".

Do you see how this student began and ended her vignette by using the word "bend?" If Dee had stopped the poem at the third line, it would not have seemed complete, would it? It would not have been a vignette. The fourth and fifth lines make it a self-contained piece of writing that is whole — all the pieces fit together and the beginning and the end intertwine. Dee uses the image of bend on every line with the exception of the middle line, "your truth lies deep." Clearly, she wanted to make a statement about truth and she did so by contrasting it to "bend."

This is a short vignette, but there is much to be understood in those few lines! To write a vignette that has such tremendous meaning, you do not need to be a famous writer. What you do need to do is to become aware of how ideas and images fit together and begin to piece them together in your writing.

Let yourself go! Don’t be afraid of writing too much. It is doubtful that Dee came up with this short vignette the first time she tried. More than likely, this vignette was lines longer. She edited words she didn’t need, words like "the" or "a," and kept the most powerful words. As you continue through this course, begin to allow yourself the luxury of words. Be wordy! Later, you will learn to cut down on words that are not necessary. This will make your writing more potent and effective. Let your own unique images emerge from within you.