Choosing a topic.

 
     Please note: a topic and a title are two different things, even though they do overlap somewhat, and they should be considered separately. 
 
     A strong topic will help you to finish the article.  Remember, writing a 7 x 7 expository article is much more work than writing a mere “development paragraph”; it has 49 sentences!  With a weak topic, you will run out of energy, and find it difficult to finish the article, and to completely express yourself.  A well-chosen topic will get better and better; a badly-chosen article will get worse and worse.  In this respect, choosing a topic is like choosing a suitable spouse, and then entering upon married life. 
 
     First, you must brainstorm the topic.  For this, please use the blackboard, as it will give you a panoramic view of everything you are thinking about and want to write down.  Write down many topics.  If you are working together as a class, you can choose a topic by writing down many topics on the board, and then voting on each one.  The teacher should write down how many votes each topic gained.  The top three topics are then subjected to a second round of voting, and the winner is chosen.  This method allows the students to become invested in the process of choosing a topic; once they have come to “own” their own topic, they will usually work better in class.  If they do not “own” a topic, then almost everything thereafter is boring to them.  If you are writing alone, then write down many topics, without “screening out” any ideas.  Again, I say: write them all down.  Write down each topic quickly–as it is.  Do not edit, reject, or alter the topics–that comes later.  Here, consider “fish eggs in the sea”.  Many are produced, but only a few–or one–survive.  You should follow this model.  Do not just choose one topic, and run with that!  Then, take some time out, and “mull over” the topics you have chosen, alone and undisturbed.  In this activity, time is a very useful helper.  Allow your choice of topic to “mellow out” over time.  Do not rush into it in haste, or one night before your homework is due!  (This is what many students do, and therefore their writing is often very poor.) 
 
     To remind you, here is what I wrote on “choosing a topic” in the earlier section on paragraph writing: 
     Before you do anything, choose a topic!  (Not a title, but a topic.)  You need to start from a seed of an idea, and that idea must be in English.  Get a piece of paper, and write down all sorts of ideas of what you want the topic of this paragraph to be.  Do not “screen” your thinking; just write down all the ideas that come to you–even the “silly” ones.  There are no “wrong” topics, just topics.  Take your time; do not feel you must choose a topic all at once.  If you are doing something different (not writing), and a topic comes to mind, then write it down at once.  Do not think if it is “suitable” of not; just write it down.  In time, you will have a list of topics, which you can then reduce, until you have the one you want.  Although many writers have to write “on demand” quickly (such as journalists), it is good to let time and thought go by.  Like good French brandy, time and contemplation yield a good topic.  You may wonder why I
stress this so much.  Look at the opposite–when people choose a topic quickly and without too much care.  A good topic can make a good paragraph; a poor topic gives you more and more trouble over time.  Ideally, you should have ten or twenty topics, and one survivor.  A “good” topic is not always one that you like; it is one that will yield you plenty of material to write about.  It is far better to write a paragraph about something you might not like, but which is a gold mine of material, rather than something you really like, but lacking any potential  development.  Let some time go by, before going on to the next stage.... 
 
     Once you have a good topic, then you can think about how to develop a title from it.