I love writing. Choosing the perfect word and placing it in the perfect place is difficult and stressful, but if you can conquer the sentence, it can make a reader think, visualize, and understand. Writing is building, really, almost like a mason or a carpenter.
Only that which is well-built will last.
This morning a Marine asked me to revise an essay for his college writing class. After we were through, I thought to myself, 'wow, you are the worst person to ask for revision.' Instead of a few red pen scratch marks, I gave him an hour-long regurgitation of what I've learned to work for me. I know it was more than he bargained for. But those lessons made my mind ignite. So with my mind still firing, I'm capturing my own tips:
1) Use An Active Voice. The subject of each sentence should do the doing, not have the doing done to them. I ate the apple. Not this apple was eaten by Tom.
2) Vary Sentence Length. Run-on's suck, but so do sentences that are exactly the same length. The reader loses interest. He or she stops paying attention.
3) Use The Least Amount Of Words Possible Of Convey The Most Information. A writer can imply more by saying less. It makes the reader have to think more.
4) Describe, Don't Classify. The apple was good. That's classifying the apple as good. Instead, the apple was sweet, and the skin stuck between my teeth. The reader identifies with the sweetness, and the sweetness can be classified by the reader. And the reader can perceive him/herself picking at those apple remnants with a toothpick.
The depressing part about my regurgitation, was that when I went back to give an example of good writing, I came up short. A lot of my old posts are heinous. (That's classifying) Blogging certainly doesn't promote revision.
Finally, no post would be complete lately without a riding clip. This time the clip is short, and captures my day off Wednesday...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
"Only that which is well-built will last."
ReplyDeleteToo true. Though I've found that focusing on creating enduring prose tends to more or less freak me out, and prevent me from writing anything. After all, who's to say that even if something does last, any future readers will even care to take a second look?
Instead, I find myself just "spitting it out" and polishing it up as best I can before presenting to the world. Kind of a gross metaphor, I guess, but for someone who is prone to overthinking things, the old "write hot/edit cold" technique is the only thing that works.
Oh, and if the crime of the run-on sentence were prosecutable, I'd be writing this from my permanent cell.
Gosh, as an English teacher, I am impressed and it has been your power in writing that has kept me captivated. You do have a gift to put feelings and experiences into words that allow a reader to really feel something. I want my students to read this post!
ReplyDelete