Today's word of the day is interrobang. The definition of the word is, a printed punctuation mark that combines the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!).
I love looking up odd and obscure words. I am one of those odd word nerds that likes to read the dictionary as if it is some interesting novel. I think my favorite words are the ones that people can not just throw into normal conversation. The words that the SAT tests love to use. I am also impressed whenever someone has the ability to slip an obscure word into conversation and actually use it properly. In fact, I used to have a friend who would compete with me for word points. That does not mean we played "Words With Friends" together but rather every time one of us was able to use an "SAT' word as we called it, and use it properly, we would get points and a congratulatory, "Good SAT word" pat on the back.
As I am writing my novel though I could of course burrow into my head and pull out all the large, pedantic, obscure, ostentatious words that I know. Yet, who would want to read that. There are novels you read and either skip over the large words in hopes you will get a clue to their meaning further on or you sit with a dictionary close at hand and actually look up the obscure words. Those novels take work and in my opinion act as a showcase to the author trying to either teach the reader or showboat and prove their intelligence by making sure the reader knows they are smarter. Then there are the novels where the words flow like music and the story stays in their minds even after you finish reading. Depending upon the type of novel you are desiring, reading a novel should be enjoyable and even if it teaches, should not make the reader feeling brain tired.
The novel should also take into consideration the social economics of a character. It would be hard to visualize someone described as raised in an impoverished area who has had little to no education speak as if they were professors at a university. Just as it would be difficult to visualize someone who has had advantages handed to them or earned speak as if they did had no formal training in their primary language.
With all that being said, I opted to leave out some of the juicy big words that delight my heart in favor of words that seem to resemble more how I envision my characters would think and speak. I also have utilized my thesaurus and dictionary in the process. I love my red covered dictionary I received from my parents when I graduated 8th grade and have come to use it highly as I write my novel and my yellow covered thesaurus even more. This has helped me discover synonyms and antonyms of the big, hairy, hard to understand words for the simple, enjoyable words. I compare it to a big fancy dinner versus a bowl of cereal. The mean may taste great but it takes a lot of work and hours to prepare whereas a bowl of cereal is simple and comforting and still fills you up all at the same time.
So instead of opting for the big SAT word which may get me points from the reader, I have instead decided to write with my characters in mind and with my readers in mind. Can you believe it?!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Removing the Decorations Makes Life Breathable Again
Christmas is done. I have put away all the decorations, stowed the tree away into the shed and closed up the trunk on all of my ornaments and nutcrackers. I have stopped hearing the noel tunes on the radio like "The Twelve Days Before Christmas" which to me is the holiday version of "99 Bottles of Beer" that seems to go on forever. When I walked into the room it was quiet and it looked so big. The area seemed to have expanded in the blink of an ornament and now feels roomier and a bit emptier at the same time. I made a large sigh though that the holidays were over.
Every year the holidays are one of my busiest times of the year. This year I also added to my list visiting my Dad. He was having surgery and then had to stay in a rehabilitation facility until he was back on his feet. That meant driving to visit him often. Then there is work and all the end of the year items that need completing, the parties for the holidays, which I will admit here that I skipped most since my holiday spirit was a bit lower than normal, the buying of the gifts, decorating and making sure my son has an amazing Christmas. With all that needed to be done I was almost exuberant once the tree was taken down and I could just sit on my couch and revel in the emptiness and cleanliness of my living room. I knew this feeling would not last long with a twelve year old son who loves to fill in spaces with stuff and has not yet learned the skill of picking up after himself. So for a moment it was quite nice and unchaotic in my living room.
When we are editing our work we sometimes have to think of it like removing the decorations after the holidays. It is great to have all the frills around and the twinkling lights to make something look pretty and glossy. We must remember though that they take up space and may not actually be what is needed in the room. Sometimes have a bit more room in our writing is better. As I read one writer put it, "cutting away the fat." It is great eating that cake but carrying around the extra weight it gives you is not fun. When we are writing it is great adding in all the details we could think of but then the reader sometimes feels weighted down and the room inside their head is all cluttered with decorations. It would be better for both writer and reader to put away the decorations and put down that fatty slice of cake and let the air back into the story.
Sometimes taking out the excess words and descriptions helps keep the story flowing better. It also can leave the reader feeling more active in the story. They can get an image from what you are describing and they can create the comfortable picture in their head of a place or a person. When we try to describe something in too great of detail all we do is take away the reader's chance for interacting with the story and filling their head with too many words. Someone may imagine a character differently than you but if they feel like they are part of the story, even just by reading it, they will want to continue to find out what interesting action may still be ahead.
Over the past month I have been stuck in my own story. I want to add in all this research that I have done and make it part of the story. I made the realization though as I sat in my clean, airy living room that adding all that research seems like a great idea but it doesn't really add to the plot and the story line and I should take away some of those details and leave it up to the reader to create the atmosphere they envision without cluttering up that vision with too much of my own detail. Once I made that realization I felt the pressure of adding in all those details in a creative way easier to do.
I finally remembered that this is a fictional story and not a researched thesis paper. My novel is to entertain and be interesting without turning the corner into dull, with no imagination and too much detail. So I took down the decorations and removed some of the unnecessary historical items listed in Chapter 19 and made the chapter roomier and easier to read through without having to constantly sidestep a fact or step over an obvious detail. I reminded myself that sometimes more is just more and not necessarily better and so now I can also focus more on the story I want to actually tell without getting weighted down by all the details.
Christmas has ended even for my book and now it is time to start a new year with a less cluttered view of my living room and of my novel. Happy 2013 all around.
Every year the holidays are one of my busiest times of the year. This year I also added to my list visiting my Dad. He was having surgery and then had to stay in a rehabilitation facility until he was back on his feet. That meant driving to visit him often. Then there is work and all the end of the year items that need completing, the parties for the holidays, which I will admit here that I skipped most since my holiday spirit was a bit lower than normal, the buying of the gifts, decorating and making sure my son has an amazing Christmas. With all that needed to be done I was almost exuberant once the tree was taken down and I could just sit on my couch and revel in the emptiness and cleanliness of my living room. I knew this feeling would not last long with a twelve year old son who loves to fill in spaces with stuff and has not yet learned the skill of picking up after himself. So for a moment it was quite nice and unchaotic in my living room.
When we are editing our work we sometimes have to think of it like removing the decorations after the holidays. It is great to have all the frills around and the twinkling lights to make something look pretty and glossy. We must remember though that they take up space and may not actually be what is needed in the room. Sometimes have a bit more room in our writing is better. As I read one writer put it, "cutting away the fat." It is great eating that cake but carrying around the extra weight it gives you is not fun. When we are writing it is great adding in all the details we could think of but then the reader sometimes feels weighted down and the room inside their head is all cluttered with decorations. It would be better for both writer and reader to put away the decorations and put down that fatty slice of cake and let the air back into the story.
Sometimes taking out the excess words and descriptions helps keep the story flowing better. It also can leave the reader feeling more active in the story. They can get an image from what you are describing and they can create the comfortable picture in their head of a place or a person. When we try to describe something in too great of detail all we do is take away the reader's chance for interacting with the story and filling their head with too many words. Someone may imagine a character differently than you but if they feel like they are part of the story, even just by reading it, they will want to continue to find out what interesting action may still be ahead.
Over the past month I have been stuck in my own story. I want to add in all this research that I have done and make it part of the story. I made the realization though as I sat in my clean, airy living room that adding all that research seems like a great idea but it doesn't really add to the plot and the story line and I should take away some of those details and leave it up to the reader to create the atmosphere they envision without cluttering up that vision with too much of my own detail. Once I made that realization I felt the pressure of adding in all those details in a creative way easier to do.
I finally remembered that this is a fictional story and not a researched thesis paper. My novel is to entertain and be interesting without turning the corner into dull, with no imagination and too much detail. So I took down the decorations and removed some of the unnecessary historical items listed in Chapter 19 and made the chapter roomier and easier to read through without having to constantly sidestep a fact or step over an obvious detail. I reminded myself that sometimes more is just more and not necessarily better and so now I can also focus more on the story I want to actually tell without getting weighted down by all the details.
Christmas has ended even for my book and now it is time to start a new year with a less cluttered view of my living room and of my novel. Happy 2013 all around.
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