For Authors: December 28, 2016 Issue [#8045]
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 This week: The Emoji Test
  Edited by: THANKFUL SONALI Library Class! Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

Like them, love them, laugh at them or disdain them -- you can't ignore emojis.
Given that you're stuck with them, how can you use them as a writer?


Word from our sponsor

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Letter from the editor

Dear Reader,

We had it all planned. We were going to do an Oscar Wilde evening together, reading from Wilde's works at our favourite cafe. I was so looking forward to it ... how would we render 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol' and other works? (And we had decided we were NOT going to read 'The Importance of Being Earnest' because everyone who reads Wilde reads that one!)

Before we could get to rehearsing anything Wilde, they moved. The climate of this city didn't suit them or their 4-year-old daughter, so the couple decided they had to shift before her allergies got any worse. Within a week of the decision, they were gone. Our Wilde evening never happened. The cherished evenings listening to them read aloud from various iconic works (by Cohen, Saint-Exupery, Dylan, Eliot) came to an abrupt halt.

Today, I saw it on the guy's Facebook status: "Shifted to ..." and I clicked on the emoji button, to react.

Then, I paused.

The emojis to choose from are: Like, love, haha, wow, sad, angry.

I didn't want to 'like' or 'love'. I was disappointed that they had moved. I certainly didn't want to 'wow', unless it was a sarcastic wow, and I didn't want to be sarcastic, given that it was health issues that had decided their move. However, the health issues are apparently now sorted out. So should I 'like' or 'love' after all?

And 'haha'. Well, the joke is on me, I guess. Yeah. Haha.

Did I want to be 'sad' or 'angry'? But wouldn't that mean that I was selfish? Shouldn't I be encouraging them to set up in a new city (especially one that's famous for its restaurants!) instead of harping on my feelings about a cancelled Wilde evening?

So, rather than click on an emoji, I made a comment. I asked the guy which emoji I should click on. Here's his answer: Lord knows. I haven't really used all the new ones. But if I had to pick an emotion, it would probably be 'relief'

So there we have it.

An interplay of emojis -- or emotions.

And just to add spice to this conversation, here are a handful of the other comments his post received:

Yay! You are here!!!

We will miss you.

Awesomeness! We're super excited and are def going to come by to catch up with all of you.

Our loss. Wish you well.

Wow! What happened? Will miss catching up with you guys!


To get back to emojis -- I think they could be an unusual way of progressing when you're stuck for dialogue, or of exploring different paths a scene could take.

To take the above responses:
The corresponding emojis could go:

*Bigsmile*

*Cry*

*Delight*

*Frown*

*Shock2*


So now, what if you were to do the exercise of blanking out the responses -- putting the status 'Shifted to ---' and the emojis, and writing the dialogue accordingly? Different reactions, different scenarios. A sort of working-backward thing.

Here goes one exercise, with a much-used line as the springboard:

"Honey, I'm home!"


Possible responses:

*Smile*

*Sick*

*Silent*

*Yawn*

*StarStruck*

*Crazy*

*FacePalm*

*HappyCry*


So what's the corresponding dialogue? The circumstance? The backstory? The relationship? Get to know your characters by thinking these up!

Before I sign off: Here's something from Lilli 🧿 ☕ Author Icon
"Note: "Emojis are by no means taking away from ou..."

*Smirk2* Have fun! *Angelic*
- Sonali

PS -- in response to feedback about locating the emoticons on WDC -- click the 'smile' on the text formatting options, or click here: http://www.writing.com/main/tools/action/emoticons


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Ask & Answer

Thank you for the responses to "For Authors Newsletter (October 5, 2016)Open in new Window.

Quick-Quill Author Icon Thank you for opening that line of thought. I use mine to post my infrequent blog posts, something great that happened with my book sales or meetings with readers. This is an awesome idea. I'm doing the NaNo challenge and posted a problem I am having. I received many suggestions. What a great place this this is.

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