Writers And Readers Websites Wednesday - The Tongue Untied

Here we go - a little something for everyone who works with  language - writers, readers, students, business folks - The Tongue Untied

A Guide to Grammar, Punctuation and Style.  What more could you want?  Your helpful online guide. Take advantage - it's out there for you - and polish up your language skills. Oh, and by the way, that's a humming bird moth in the photo - ain't it cool?

If You Can Tell Stories...

Here’s an interesting quote I came across: 

“If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write.” ~ W. Somerset Maugham.

 

Hmm, really?  What do you think?

I think I’m going to have to disagree very firmly with Somerset – it may have had the ring of truth in his day, but it certainly is no longer true now.

I certainly agree with his list that if  “you can tell stories, create character, devise incidents and have sincerity and passion” you’re a long way there. But that’s not all she wrote – so to speak.

You read, probably a lot. Haven’t you come across books that may have some good elements as mentioned above, but are simply boring, flat, stale? Haven’t you wondered how the writer could have such a good idea, great premise, fascinating incidents and still come up uninspired? That the book leaves you adrift and uninterested in finishing it so that you put it aside.

Of course you have. So, from that we deduce a writer’s style is crucial to the momentum and the readability of the book. It’s an intangible that’s hard to put a finger on, but the reality is the writer must have a fresh writing style unique to his or herself. It’s imperative that the writer write like no one else but himself.

The skill and craft of writing are continually evolving. Read some of the old classics. Great books. Great stories, but some of them can be gawdawfully hard to read. That was the writer’s style for the time.

The times have changed.

Writing, in addition to being an art and a craft is also a business. To see your work read and appreciated you need to captivate the reader. And today’s readers want to be swept into the world you’ve created, suspend their disbelief , and be carried along by the story. If your readers have to fight their way through a delivery that’s stale and a poor imitation of another well known writer they’re going to give up on the boring second tier writer (you) pretty quickly. That means it’s doubtful they’ll finish your book and they certainly won’t look for another with your name.

So, sorry Mr. Maugham, the times have changed considerably and it’s time to step up your game. 

I think he'd understand

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear them. Leave a comment below.

Writers Considering Readers

There  are a whole lot of things for writers to consider when they’re writing; lots of things about story and where it’s all going and how to get there.

But there’s another thing to consider when writing and this may well be obvious, but strangely, for some it isn’t. And for others it’s an obsession. 

That’s the reader.

Yep, you know, those folks who’re actually going to buy your books, stories, articles, scripts, whatever.

Sometimes the writer can get so caught up in the reader, pondering where their interests are, what their intelligence level is, how to communicate with them, that they kind of skip over the obvious. The obvious being most surveys reveal that educated people like books. Likewise those same educated people are likely to have an income that allows them to buy books, many times lots and lots of  books. 

Surprised? No reason to be. It’s simple logic and math really.

Still,some newer authors believe they have to dumb down their writing because they fear they may alienate vast pools of potential readers they believe they’re writing for. Don’t even go there. It isn’t necessary. Readers  are  a lot smarter than a lot of demographics might lead you to believe. And that’s at the end of the pipeline. Don’t forget if you’re not self-publishing and have chosen to go the traditional publisher route then you’re writing will have to pass the test with (probably) agents and (certainly) editors (maybe) script readers.  If you’re  purposely writing ‘down’, you aren’t going to turn any heads there as they, too, are well educated, and if you self publish and write ‘down’ you’ll just turn off your readers.

So keep the writing loose and simple. Free your vocabulary and don’t think about it so darn much. Use language that is appropriate.  Make your dialog fit your character. A street kid might say ‘icky’, an educated character might say ‘abhorrent’.  Don’t change the language that fits your story in order to ‘dumb it down’ or the reverse, to show off your amazing language skills.

When I was a kid I read with a dictionary handy. What I didn’t understand I looked up. To this day I appreciate a writer who ‘tells it like it is’ using language fitting to plot and characters.  If I come across a word I don’t know I still look it up. When I write if I’m stuck I pull out a thesaurus, then choose a word or rephrase it so it helps build character and plot, not distract from it.

And don’t overexplain to your readers when showing action or your characters’ thoughts either.  They get it. Really.  Give them what they need to know and allow them to use their imaginations to fill in the rest. The reader doesn’t need to see in print every thought that goes through a character’s mind.  As the writer, set the scene, propel the action and let it go.

Readers, be they the ones at the end of the pipeline or those along the way such as agents and editors who can help you, will respond to honest, unpretentious writing.

Writers Websites Wednesday - Grammar Girl

Need some help with your grammar? Do you feel a bit like a lion tamer when you confront grammar, punctuation, etc.? 

Then Grammar Girl is your site - presided over by bestselling authority Mignon Fogarty, it tackles grammatical quandries, answers difficult questions about punctuation, word choice, style and more. Visit and get your puzzling questions answered. 

Next week I'll be posting one of my regular articles now that the holidays have moved on by like a crashing wave -- stay tuned!