Pop culture? What seasoned writer needs it? Whatever lends itself to your story should be true to form. I suggest when you write about your own group and know the ins an outs of it, and are sure of your readers, go for it. Speech patterns, if you are adept at using them may work well, but if they are unfamiliar to you, let them be. It would be better to describe the speech pattern than try to reproduce it.

Unless this comes easily to you, and, as I said, you are familiar and sure of your audience, don't risk ruining an otherwise excellent manuscript. Maybe only a word or two written as it sounds to you, may work, but too many will spoil the effect, and will in fact, annoy readers who don't get it.

Writing itself is still traditional although it is slowly changing its entrances and its exits, its ways and means of getting accepted or rejected; it still has a long way to go. An editor will not take kindly to symbols such as an emoticon and other emotion indicators on your query letter or in your synopsis.

If, on the other hand, you are online chatting with 'friends' then be as brazen with these symbols as you see fit. Chat rooms. within reason, is the place for this kind of fun. By necessity, you need to use all means at your disposal to get your message across as efficient and as effective as possible.

Her I am writing about manuscript etiquette and the rules are strict. Read carefully each editor's guidelines before you begin the final version. The audience you are writing to will determine if an how you use pop references, if you do.

To a sophisticated audience you will be reserved and subtle. You will be seeking wit rather than a resounding, hip slapping guffaw. Your (LOL) will be out of place. What you work for will be a smile. Another thing permitted, even in polite society is to hint at humor. But make it humor with a straight face. By that I mean no explanations, nothing to show that you did or said what you did to get them to loosen up and to somehow enjoy the dull fair presented to them. At least, you want them to observe, the writing is not dull.

When I speak of dull writing I mean writing that drones on and on and overlaps itself in about every other sentence and presents the facts but you first must digest and regurgitate them to get at the meaning.

Writers love nothing better than deflating pomposity and academic jargon. They do it without even meaning to. Ever wonder why you would much rather read a second-hand report of a medical breakthrough than read the journal where the original report was printed. The report has been digested by the author and . . . well never mind, but you get my point.

Writers who enjoy the process of writing and who seek always to improve the quality of their work can turn hard to understand, redundant jargon into easily understood writing. They have no need to resort to tricks such as pop culture references, they first get the if, ands, whats and buts clear in their minds and waste no words in telling it like it is.

What you get is a bird's eye view, but that's all you need. He can keep his wings, his feathers and his bill.

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