Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Wordy Wednesday

The man with insight enough to admit his limitations comes nearest to perfection.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
***

Words are like a stream of tickertape spewing across the screen. They either become a sentence or they turn into jibberish.

Have you ever been listening to people, in a restaurant for example, and all the words seem to blend together like scrambled eggs? Jumbled and confused you can’t discern one conversation from the other?

We as writer’s have to listen and pick apart a conversation in our writing. We can’t jumble it all together and expect readers to get the point. Always try to remember a beginning, a middle and an end. Using this technique will make your words have a cognitive point.

If we start a paragraph, we should start with point A., move on to point B., and finish it up with point C. Tying it all in to point A. We can’t confuse the reader by giving them the whole alphabet and expecting them to put it all in order and make sense of what we write.

Our words are going to flow from one point to the next and the reader is going to be all the more enthralled in your story. Whether you blog, whether you’re telling a Short Story, or whether it is a Novel, you must always keep in mind the reader.

I know of some writer’s who try to over-explain, and in this sense, they lose the reader. It’s as if the writer is writing in desperation, trying to get the story out and all that they get from me is sympathy. This is where a lot of possibly good writer’s are left behind on the way to publishing success. I also note that while in the library, there are many writer’s who are published sitting on the shelf collecting dust because either the cover didn’t grab someone or the story synopsis was lame.

I’m going to pick up a book that has a little taste of what the writer has written. His style or her flair will pull me in and if it doesn’t, then onto my search for the next Shirley Jackson or Stephen King. They know how to streamline words. They know what the reader wants. The reader wants to get lost in some fantasy world, but wants you, the writer, to make sense of this fantasy world. Our words are going to keep them reading.

It seems my tickertape has run amuck and must end here. Remember, words are your friends. Take good care of the relationship and it will blossom.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Joni,

Thank you for this write-up. I really needed to hear it said again.

joni said...

I recognize those words and that heart anywhere! Even through a screen I can see you! lol
Now get writing, Cis!

Joni :-)

Steven said...

Mmm...scrambled eggs.