Evolution

Evolution. What does that word mean? To me it means re-creation, restructuring, rebuilding. My writing is undergoing a re-creation. Book number two and three are going off in a different direction than I originally intended. The changes are for the better, so much that when I finish writing a scene I get all excited. Chills run through my arms and I get that rush when things gel just right.

My writing has gone through a form of restructuring as well. I'm trying to go about my writing in a more formated way, instead of by the seat of my pants. What did I know about character development? Nothing! What is a turning point? Darned if I knew.

I was talking with my son last week about what I was learning about these two writing structures and he laughed at me. "We learned that in third grade,Mom," he says. Well, I don't know about you, but I don't remember learning it in third grade or any grade for that matter.

Maybe I'm a slow learner or a late bloomer, but at least I'm making progress. I'm pleased with what I'm creating now and can't wait to get to the endings. Who knew plotting could be so fun!

Poetry

Last night I went to a local creative writing workshop held in Greece B&N. It was a smaller group than normal, probably because it's Poetry Month and our exercise was in Poetry. I have to admit, the terror swamped the inner writer in me as I thought of writing poetry. But Pat, who is Kim's mother made the exercise understandable and worth while. I can actually see applying the creative process to my own writing.


The exercise was on Metaphors. Metaphors are and not like. You don't say ran like a deer... you would say he is a deer.

The exercise was tremendous in learning how to relate you thoughts into deeper thoughts. We tackled emotion related to noun.

For instance her first example was a sentence:
I am cold.
I am a .....(fill in a noun.) snowman, ice cube....

We did the following emotions: greedy, angry, frustrated, pretty, sad, and happy. The varies responses were humorous and on point.

Then we took the process further, by breaking down the noun into feelings about the noun.
For instance: the noun... writer. What are the first thing you think of when you think writer?

pen, ink, pain, passion, slow, timeless.....

Afterward we took the process further and broke down the descriptive words into thoughts related it the words.
Pen-fountain of words; ink-blood of the story, pain-torture of failing, passion--bursting elation...

The final step was to take our descriptive phrases and words and create a short poem to describe the original emotion without stating the emotion.

I must say when I completed the project I thought I had a jumble of words, but this morning I reread my poem. And maybe I shouldn't have worried about writing poetry. The piece wasn't half bad for a first draft. And the process helped me dive into the five senses of writing, describing the emotion behind the words making a flesher thought. We all strive to get to that fleshy, meaty part of our characters and writing, this is just a tool. So here’s to learning something that makes your inner writer scream in terror and want to run away. Sometimes you got to try poetry.

Are We Dumbing Down Our Writing?

by Rick Taubold

From time to time I hear this comment that today's writers and writing has gotten away from the gorgeous prose of decades--and centuries--past.

My wife is reading a set of novels by Howard Fast from the 1980s and she's periodically asking me what certain words mean far more often than usual. She's enjoying the novels very much and has expressed the opinion that today's writing is less complex than writing used to be.

Have today's authors dumbed down their writing to make it more comprehensible, hence more salable.

Are today's authors simply less competent in their vocabulary than their predecessors?

Writing styles change over the years. Contemporary writing tends to reflect the contemporary society, regardless of the period the writing depicts. If Charles Dickens or Mark Twain were writing today, would they be writing in the same style as they did in their times?

Likewise, our vocabulary has shifted. Words common in past decades are less used today. Does this mean readers are less literate? In our current society, new words arise daily and supplant older ones. In addition, our vocabulary has undergone some drastic shifts as new technical terms arise.

Should we lament once-common words falling out of use or being replaced? When someone is totally amazed by something, we'll say he was astounded or dumfounded. But when was the last time you heard the word "flummoxed" used? Or how about "expurgated?" We can say that, "Most children read an expurgated or bowdlerized version of Grimms' Fairy Tales." We're more like to say, however, that they read a censored or sanitized (or even "politically correct") version.

I love seeing those big, twenty-five cent words tossed and sprinkled into prose. The problem is that doing so in a contemporary novel with contemporary characters will make it sound out of place. We might love Shakespeare's colorful vocabulary, but forcing modern characters to use it is a questionable act unless the story requires it.

English is a growing--not a shrinking--language. Vocabulary is shifting, not always being lost. Slang is on the rise. Old words are being given new meanings. I love "ghetto" as an adjective. "It's ghetto" means something is run-down, broken-down, beat-up, decrepit, derelict. Would a teen today use any of these words? Well, it would depend on his or her background. As a writer, I have to consider how my CHARACTERS would say it, not how I might want to say it.

I don't think we've dumbed down our writing any more than I believe modern authors are necessarily less competent in their vocabulary than their predecessors were. Have I read authors whom I considered less competent in their vocabulary skills? Have I read some authors who seem to have simplified their vocabulary on purpose? Yes, to both. Do I think it's a pervasive problem in modern writing? Not at all.