8 Ways to Become Fierce on the Page

By Sage Cohen

Photo by The Weaver House

The difference between good writing and unforgettable writing is specificity—which creates electricity. Yet because we all see differently, this can be tricky to execute. Anton Chekhov advises, “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” Mizuta Masahide, a 17th-century Japanese poet, shows us a different moon:

Barn’s burnt down —
now
I can see the moon.

In this poem, our gaze is directed through the empty pla...