This popular post was first published in April 2024. Since then many more people have joined the Place Writing community so I retrieved it from the archive and freshened it up to re-share with you. I hope you enjoy it.
My understanding of Place Writing has developed over several years and two phrases have repeatedly cropped up that bother me. They are ‘writing place’ and ‘place writing’. They seem to be used interchangeably. But, do they really mean the same thing?
Adding Textual Material to a Narrative
Let’s look at ‘writing place’ and ‘place writing’ in the context of field notes. I’ve noticed a number of authors of creative non-fiction use field notes as an addition to their prose, incorporating them to strengthen their writing. Other textual material finds its way in as well—extracts from poetry, fiction, biography, memoir and, let’s not forget, photographs. These additions combine to make a rich rendering of place.
The Value of Field Notes
When incorporated into a longer work field notes can add textual and visual interest, and inject a sense of present-ness into a narrative. Then, also, they become a means of providing evidence, i.e. proof of the author’s presence in place.
My field notes are scribbled on scraps of paper, or digitally captured as voice notes or visual notes on my iPhone. Once I’ve written them up, I’m inclined to discard them, delete them. (My PhD supervisor was a little surprised at this, saying he knows of no other writer who throws away their field notes!) This habit speaks to my need for tidiness. They’re an aide memoire pure and simple, and once they’ve served their purpose… they’re destroyed.
Reproducing Field Notes in Published Work
In their raw state my notes are never sufficiently developed to be reproduced on the printed page—they merely act as memory prompts. This leads me to one of the most bothersome of questions.
Is a field note that you see printed in an essay or a book really a field note?
It must be the case, surely, that it goes through some kind of revision process before appearing in front of the reader. And it’s the immediacy of thought, the idea captured from thin air, in the present, of it is to be truly called a field note. So, during the transition to the published page, doesn’t it change from a field note into something else? I wonder whether there is a name for the ‘something else’.
I read and enjoyed a book by Benjamin Myers called Under the Rock (link below). In it he reproduces his own field notes, here’s an example. It’s quite polished.
What do you think?
‘Writing Place’ or ‘Place Writing’?
I think there is a subtle difference and this line of thinking is very much a work in progress for me. I feel more confident about my thoughts on the latter, so let’s start with the former—‘writing place’—which is the more active phrase. In my view this applies to the physical practice of writing on location; it’s about being-in-place and producing words in place, perhaps in the form of field notes.
Moving on to ‘place writing’; this is a phrase that tends to be all-encompassing as a title that describes a body of work. It can refer to a single book or the genre as a whole, and it aims to immerse readers in the spirit of place.
If we accept that ‘writing place’ is the generation of work, say in-the-field, then it follows that ‘place writing’ will be a likely outcome.
Questions
Do you use a note-book and pen for site-specific writing? Are you a note-taker?
I’d love to know more about your process.
Field notes: how they’re captured, how they’re used, how they’re stored, how they find their way onto the published page. I've been sitting with these questions since I began my own research for Place Writing and I'm developing a mini course on the subject of incorporating field notes into prose, particularly looking at how in-the-moment observation can be transformed into a finished, resonant, piece of work. If a mini course is something you'd be interested in, please leave a comment or click on the heart. I’m at the early stage of development and would appreciate your input.
Annual paid subscribers will receive a discount on all courses when they launch.
I look forward to chatting with you in the comments!
Credits, Notes and Links
Image above is my own. Taken at Hinchingbrooke Country Park in Cambridgeshire, UK.
Extract from Under the Rock and see my review here:
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Do you use a note-book and pen for site-specific writing? Are you a note-taker?
I have a stack of journals holding about 25 years of nature observations from a single area. I'm in the early stages of working on a book, and I do plan on including field notes. However, most will definitely have to be edited, as I often write in my own kind of shorthand, with abreviations and sometimes symbols for words, so it wouldn't make sense to anyone else. Lol. And I'll likely need to edit some for clarity etc. but hope to remain as true to the essence of my entries as possible. I also plan on acknowledging this field notes editorial process at the start, for transparency's sake.