 Noticing Newbies: May 07, 2008 Issue [#2359] |
  Noticing Newbies
This week: Edited by: esprit  
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"When I was twenty, I was in love with words, a wordsmith. I didn't know enough to know when people were letting words get in their way. Now I like the words to disappear like a transparent curtain."
Wallace Stegner
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Don't Be a Showoff
I have begun and erased this newsletter many times, trying to keep it nice. I think the only way to say it, is straight out - kindly.
Please don’t be a showoff.
Some of us tend to make writing harder than it needs to be, then we cry when the reviews come in. We use words we don’t fully understand because they’re big and fancy, then we’re embarrassed when they’re pointed out for not meaning what we thought they meant. We write lines so long and convoluted we don’t understand them ourselves, then we defend them by crying, ‘My Style.’
I know, you want to be noticed and admired. You want to be a great writer. You want to be the center of attention, known as 'The Author'.
Stop Doing That!
Here's how to begin to accomplish your goal without having to showoff.
Readers don’t care how clever you were to choose importunate over annoying, They only know they’re pissed when they stumble over a word. Butt out of the story and write for the readers.
Forget about developing a Style, it only makes you self conscious and shows you’re looking for attention. What do you think Strunk and White meant by ‘style’ in The Elements of Style? They meant, concise, precise, clear, uncluttered writing devoted entirely to unambiguous communication between author and reader. They meant ‘Write Clear Enough to be Understood. Don't Write Wordy. Spelling, grammar and punctuation do count.'
They agree with what I say in most of my reviews.
Write clear, crisp sentences that create pictures your reader can see and emotions they can feel. You want your very own style? There's one worth admiring.
Strive to make the words invisible. Work on writing stories that your reader can easily believe, where they can become the characters, feel the conflicts and live in the world you have created. Write so the story becomes real and readers forget it’s only a piece of fiction thought up by a writer.
How do you do that? By rewriting that first draft as many times as it takes. Forget about becoming a 'Great' writer; focus instead on writing a 'great' story.
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SUBMITTED ITEMS
Submitted By: R. Hoffman
Submitted Item:
Submitted Comment: This is a soliloquy I wrote. It's all in iambic pentameter, which I found out, while writing, is a terrible, terrible thing.
Submitted By: SasaShehu
Submitted Item:
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