| Back to Back Issues Page |
 |
|
Why your unique writing works: Editor's Notes #227 January 15, 2017 |
| Hello, Just like everyone else. --Margaret Mead In this issue: 1. Why your unique writing works 2. Tickled my funnybone 3. Interesting Web site 4. Writing prompt 1. Why your unique writing works The pendulum of popular thought swings between the idea that each of us is unique and the idea that we are all more similar than we are different. In my experience, ideas like these that seem to be opposed are often both true. These two ideas matter to writers in at least two ways. First, truly successful writers use their own experiences, observations, and research to write specifically. Readers pick up the universal from the specifics that the writer offers. Think of Shakespeare's plays. The characters have their own unique characteristics and ways of speaking. And we still turn to these plays to understand our own societies and psyches. Second, successful writers ply their craft as members of the guild of wordsmiths. Writers know, either consciously or unconsciously, how to make the most of words, how to build a good metaphor, how rhythms and vowel sounds spark emotional responses, how to convince a doubter of a difficult truth. Sometimes writers tell me that their work is unique, and of course, at some level, all our writing is unique in that it is not an exact copy of anyone else's. What I yearn to tell these writers is that they are unique in the ways that they manipulate what we all know about language, and that if they stray too far from what we all know about language, no one will understand what they are saying. This year, celebrate your unique insights and abilities and take care that your uniqueness makes you more, not less, understandable. To do so, use language skillfully, being precise with meanings. Follow conventions so others are not confused by odd punctuation or grammar. Be as aware as you can be about the influences on you and deal with them both on and off the page. When you have something beautifully unique with a message the world can understand, let me help you take your unique writing to the next level so it will stand with the best. =========== 2.Tickled my funnybone You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice. =========== 3. Interesting Web site Peruse the list on this page for examples of how specific characters have appeal to others. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-100-favourite-fictional-characters-as-chosen-by-100-literary-luminaries-526971.html =========== 4. Writing prompt How do you see yourself as different from others? Write a character sketch of yourself that highlights this difference. Take a character you are writing about or a character you know from literature and give that character your own difference. Write a brief sketch about the other character showing your trait. Reflect on what this tells you. =========== Join Writer's Helper Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/WritersHelperEditor Follow me on Twitter @AudreytheEditor Link on LinkedIn https://ca.linkedin.com/in/audreyowen (Email me first so I know how you know me.) =========== If you know a writer who would appreciate receiving Editor's Notes, forward this issue. If someone has passed this on to you, you can get your own free subscription by signing up at https://www.writershelper.com/newsletter.html |
| Back to Back Issues Page |