[One Thousand Characters a Day] The Power of 'Transcription' to Improve Writing Skills <1>

Editor's NoteAlthough the internet has become a part of our lives and videos receive more attention than text, 'writing' remains an important means of self-expression. Even when leaving a simple comment on a web post, people yearn for their writing to receive more positive responses. However, good writing consists of excellent sentences, and excellent sentences cannot be written overnight. ＜Special Lecture on Transcription for Sentence Mastery＞, published by instructors of the Sungnye Literature Academy, is a training book that helps those who wonder how to craft compelling sentences that appeal to people by copying and imitating famous sentences to improve their writing skills. Problems felt before writing vary, including lengthy sentences, tautology, rigid development, poor vocabulary and logic, and the overwhelming difficulty of even starting the first sentence. This book summarizes these issues as 'sentence skill deficiency' and prescribes 'transcription' as the comprehensive remedy. The text contains 1,064 characters.

Close reading (精讀) is a process of reading carefully while understanding the meaning of each word, unlike extensive reading (多讀) or speed reading (速讀). Although the reading speed is slow, close reading is the way to deeply understand the text. It is a reading method that requires concentration. If you lose focus even slightly, the content evaporates from your mind. The book title and the protagonist's name become blurry, and only fragmented content remains. If you want to move away from extensive or speed reading and engage in close reading, some kind of device is necessary. This could be reading a book and participating in a book discussion, or writing excerpts, book reports, or reviews and posting them on a blog. Doing so leads to close reading, and the closest form of close reading is 'transcription.'

Novelist Jo Jung-rae said, "Copying a novel by hand is better than reading it a hundred times." His epic novel ＜Taebaek Mountain Range＞ consists of 10 volumes, totaling 16,500 manuscript sheets. It took him about six years to complete writing it. There is a famous anecdote that the author made his children transcribe ＜Taebaek Mountain Range＞. Some readers have read and transcribed the entire ＜Taebaek Mountain Range＞ themselves. The transcription period ranged from as short as six months to as long as four years. The readers' transcribed copies are exhibited at the Taebaek Mountain Range Literature Museum. As Jo Jung-rae said, the reason copying is better than multiple readings is that it allows you to ruminate on the book. When you transcribe what you have read, you reflect once again on its meaning.

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That said, it is not necessary to transcribe an entire book from start to finish. If you find a captivating writing style while reading, mark it with sticky notes and transcribe only the highlighted parts. Also, rather than stopping reading to transcribe, it is better to set aside a specific time for transcription. You can transcribe right after waking up in the morning or use spare moments during a busy day. Prepare a pretty transcription notebook and writing tools that suit you well. About five lines per transcription session is appropriate.

Transcription is one of the easiest ways to enter writing. If you want to read and organize your thoughts but find it difficult to write reviews, critiques, or essays from the start, begin with excerpts. Transcribe the excerpted parts and write down the reasons for selecting them. Underline sentences that resonate with you and carefully copy those parts separately. You should abandon the 'extensive reading complex.' Even if you read only one book, it is important to read it thoroughly and carefully.

- Kim Min-young, Lee Jin-hee, Kim Je-hee, Kwon Jung-hee, ＜Special Lecture on Transcription for Sentence Mastery＞, Book by Book, 14,000 KRW

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