Thursday, October 08, 2009

Just Words?


WORDS

Words are what make a sentence. They are what we use in the human language to convey what we want, what we think and by everything we do, we use words.

Now words placed together like a string of pearls, become just that, a gem. Place them in the wrong order and they become unintelligible thoughts. But as we make a necklace out of our words, they become a writer’s dream. A fluid and well defined thought.

I know a few folks who say, “Hey this writing thing is for me. How do I do it?” Well let me tell you, you can’t just sit down and write and think it is publishable for one. You need to study the craft for quite awhile before you become familiar with what is right, what is acceptable, and what publisher’s will actually publish.

You’re not looking to be published? Well then write away. I think journaling is your thing.
What was that? You WANT to be published? Well then you better get off your tush and start learning the art form that takes place in writing.

No one likes learning and diving into knowledge. (Well most people anyway) Most people like to take the easy way to getting things done. I’m not one of those people. I like to learn and drink in knowledge like a good cup of coffee. On our journey to learning the craft of writing we get sidetracked. Someone said that they start to write and then forget what the point was that they were trying to make.

You’re trying to make words into sentences that make sense, that’s what you’re trying to do. Let’s say you have an idea for a story. Be it a novel, a memoir, or a short story. It is advisable to write an outline of your ideas FIRST so you don’t get sidetracked. Just a simple outline of points you want to touch on, or a character outline so you know the character before you write one word.

Words! They’re not just letters put together you know. The letters form words and it’s up to you to make sense of what you form. We’re not abstract artists here. I like to think of writer’s as the Thomas Kinkade’s of a story. We create beautiful works of art out of simple words. We’re writer’s!

Now lets get those words in order! Learn what to do with them once you have them put together! Workshop with other writer’s! Get busy!

Lesson: She asked if it was going to work.
Look at that sentence. Does it make sense? NO! Who is ‘she’? And what is ‘it’?

Donna asked if the car was going to start.
Now we know who and what.

Asking the who’s and what’s (or why, when and where) of each sentence will tighten up your work.
Can you see? Now act on the structure of writing and get to work!

1 comment:

Steven said...

Good advice! :*