The Sound of Writing, Pt. 2
When I wrote the first post on this topic, I did not necessarily plan on writing more. But of course, I am always open to writing more (sorry for the manuscript editors and reviewers who have to navigate this, lol). As such, my conversation last week with the friend whose recording session I intended got me thinking of another potential connection between the creation of music and my approach to academic writing.
He shared with me how artists and producers sometimes (or often) create soundscapes aimed toward communicating a certain mood, sentiment, or theme. Some examples he gave were recording the sounds (1) of everyday activity while walking around town, (2) snowboots make when walking in the snow (for a song related to the winter), and (3) of making beats on a classroom desk (for a song about high school). Through these examples, I interpreted the notion of a soundscape as akin to a sort of sound ecology or sound outline, where the artist or producer wants to usher in or invite listeners into a particular sound environment in a structured or semi-structured way.
Reflecting on my writing process, I think the outlining stage shares similar features. One of the best pieces of advice I received from an advisor in my doctoral program was to treat (potential) section headings as an important aid to organizing my ideas for a paper. I often apply this to my writings (for both peer-reviewed and popular press outlets). Maybe it is particularly important in my case, given the interdisciplinary nature of my scholarship. In addition to heading titles, I often use a few guiding/orienting notes and supporting references that I will likely use to support those notes. The goal is to create a sort of “ideascape” for editors, reviewers, and other potential readers.
Since I approach my scholarship in a two-fold manner (first making the case for why this comic/superhero/superhero media should be given serious attention, and second specifying where I think this attention should go), I think creating an ideascape is essential for much of my work. Two recent papers come to mind in this regard:
The Luke Cage (2023) paper, where I briefly used the cultural-historical significance of Harlem and anthropologist John Jackson Jr.’s study of Black residents in Harlem to foreground the idea that Luke Cage is more than a member of his community. To the credit of my reviewers, my first draft did not include this. I came across Jackson Jr.s work while responding to the thoughtful feedback I received.
The Lucas Bishop (2024) paper, where I drew on dystopian scholarship, moral development research, and a wide selection of comics spanning his youth and adulthood, to create the sense of a character who constantly reflects on different societal configurations and social arrangements. As Bishop is nowhere near as popular as many of his fellow X-Men (e.g., Jean-Grey, Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Rogue, and Professor X), I felt it necessary to present as holistic a picture, in line with my essay’s emphasis, as possible.
Until next time? Who knows, maybe there will be another post on this topic…