Writing isn't about choosing the most intelligent-sounding words, the most colorful adjectives or even sharing the most profound ideas-it's about getting people's attention.
Praised authors and writers from every decade (and Century, if you want to get technical) have had their own constitutions about the technique of writing. Below are some of the biggest tips and words of advice that have helped me develop not only my skills as a writer, but my voice as a speaker.
1. Journalist Paula LaRocque refers to "fadspeak" when describing what she considers the worst form of clich writing. Fadspeak is essentially TV language or clickish, fad slogans or words. LaRocque explains that published writing must bring fresh vocabulary and journalists should learn substitutions to trite language. To me, fadspeak is growing because of the Internet and Internet sub cultures that revolve around writtenor typedlanguage. This generation communicates through the Internet and even younger generations are responsible for creating a vast database of fadspeak, some of which permeates into mainstream journalism, some of which remains encrypted among the different sub cultures that exist throughout the World Wide Web.
Nonetheless, there are certain examples of fadspeak that LaRocque suggests being avoided like spam. "Get a life;" "get over it;" "I'm outta here" and "what's up wi' dat?" are some of LaRocque's examples, but anyone with access to a computer and the address to a chat room can see that these phrases are obsolete in the Technology Age. In an addition, I would reference NoSlang.com, an Internet database of the most commonly used Internet phrases. The purpose of the site is to assign acronyms to phrases that are so common in communication that they reserve their own three or four letter acronym. Some examples are: "Bring your own beer," "what the f*?," "later," "rocks" or "make it snappy."
2. LaRocque's chapter, "Language myths hinder graceful writing," is probably causing rigid mechanical instructors to have nightmares about the improper use of infinitives. I have to agree with the writing coach, who basically proves that meticulous mechanics lose meaning in writing. The phrase "Me and LaRocque both try to teach you proper grammar and pronoun use" both looks bad on paper and sounds bad to the trained ear. "Me" is the incorrect pronoun for the compound subject, signaled by the verb, "try," which is solidified by the squiggly green line in Microsoft Word that tells you "me" should be "I." Another choice could have been to say "Both LaRocque and I."
Phrases such as "They planned to confront whoever distributed the leaflets" and "They planned to confront whomever distributed the leaflets" are less phonetically challenged and therefore the likelihood of their occurrence in print is less discerning. The correct choice, according to LaRocque is "whoever distributed the leaflets," but the reason is less clear. We know "who" is the subject and "whom" is the object, but it is sometimes difficult to spot during a simple edit.
3. Call me what you will, but this aspiring non-fiction novelist couldn't believe what she read when LaRocque dissected James Lee Burke's introduction like a Jewish circumcision. I think there's a time and a place for everything and some publications would be honored to have someone like Burke on their staff. I thought her remarks were disrespectful. I thought his descriptions did make sense, and since it was obviously a first-person angle, I thought he did it quite well. Ah, well, here's my sample re-written introduction from an article that was published in 2006.
Raised in a rural Kentucky town where his ancestors, alive and buried, have endured heartaches, famine, even a war or two, architecture professor Tom Sammons thrives as head of a massive reconstruction project that comprises subjects from governmental and university avenues alike, without breaking a sweat.
Relaxed and settled in his Lafayette role, Sammons, a solid 48, boisterously twiddles in his chair until it reclines precisely to his satisfaction. He's ready for mundane questioning from an amateur reporter when one of his two desk telephones violently announces a call. After a few minutes of rabble, Sammons is anxiously waiting the end of the interview.
"That was the mayor of Youngsville," Sammons answered in an authoritative, but not overbearing tone. "We're working on a smart growth project out there."
4. Deciding when to quote and when to paraphrase should be simple. In my experience, partial quotes and dull quotes are simply a writer's way of putting forth minimal effort. Of course you can't make someone say something great, but if you can't get something to work with then don't use it at all.
LaRocque's best suggestion on quotations is to use quotes when they fit in with the flow of the narrative. She frowns upon misleading quote leads when a paraphrase works just as well. If I follow LaRocque's rule, when in doubtparaphraseeverything should work out OK.
5. Ambrose Bierce was a successful writer and editor who wanted a clear and specific meaning for words. He wrote a very substantial frequently misused words' list. One of the most interesting things about this entire book was what I learned from this chapter. I have always been interested in how a society's language reflected their values and beliefs and now I have one more example to add to my file on environmentalism.
Despite LaRocque's defeatist attitude, I will quote her paragraph to remember the words of Ambrose Bierce forever. "Bierce also complained about the habit of using dirt' when one meant soil or earth or ground, a habit we practice today. He called that usage "a most disagreeable Americanism' and reminded his readers that dirt meant filth. That's another fight he lost," LaRocque snapped.