Bonnie Trenga, a freelance writer and editor wrote a very interesting article which gives good pointers for a new writers on what to avoid in order to do good writing. If people tend to read your writing and decide to put it away on a shelf and never pick it up again, that means that there was something that your booked truly lacked. Bonnie called this mistakes traffic cones, because they stop the flow of your work being good. Those 5 factors that she considered the 5 roadblocks consisted of being too jumbled, too dull, too general, too inapproppriate, and too awkward. In speaking on the first traffic cone, being too jumbled, basically says to keep your ideas of writing together. It's not healthy to jump from one idea to the next zizzagging because that will just cause the reader to get confused. Bonnie believes that the use of an outline would also be helpful, because in doing drafts you will be able to find the places in your writing that are lacking in organization. The next traffic cone is being too dull. Bottom line you don't want to bore out your readers with a rhythm structure that is similar throughout your writing. You should make sure that you don't start every sentence you have the same way. By jazzing up your sentences by using a fragment or a compound sentence, you will be keeping your reader alert and interested. The next traffic cone is being too general. Don't sound like everyone else's work, be creative. You can do this by using different vocabulary, and make your writing have a voice that will stand out that different from everybody else. Traffic cone 4 is being too inappropriate. Use a vocabulary that is truly fitting for what you are writing. Yes you may want to impress your readers, but don't do so by using fancy vocabulary that doesn't need to be there or use improper grammar unless it is realistic of the character. The last traffic cone is being too awkward. This basically says that you don't want the one reading your writing to be distracted by a distortion in grammar, punctuation or your spelling. If the reader has too much to battle which trying to read the paper, they will have a hard time getting through your paper.
This tips were really helpful and truthful as well...
Zing! I think I am guilty of several of these cones! I tend to use too many parentheses--trying to describe every little feeling, and that is probably distracting to the reader. As for outlines, I fear my random/abstract personality prevents my doing that but perhaps I should give it a try. I just meander around letting my brain dribble out thoughts. Thanks for sharing Bonnie's tips.
ReplyDeleteYea Betty Boop lol...I think we all are guilty of these cones. I'm definitely not one for outlines because when I get an idea i rather go ahead and start writing. The hell with formulating a strategy to set up what i'm writing about, but an outline would be good. I like being different, because many writers seem to sound the same. In being unique, you show a different light, in which people can say that damn I see totally what he's talking about but in a different way...I'm glad you like the tips Betty, everybody should check this out forreal lol...
ReplyDeleteMy hero, George V., suggests that characters, beyond a certain point, develop on their own (I've heard other writers say that) and that you have to let them go where they want to go, not where your outline had them destined to go. Moreover, he gives examples where, he believes, you can tell 'shallow' writing where the character wanted to go one way but the writer forced the character to go another way: the character then becomes fake, not quite real: and the reader has not only lost faith in the character, but in the writer also.
ReplyDeleteRoy so true..my good fellow lol....I believe that strongly as well because writing an outline to some is a help but also a roadblock to me. Haven't you noticed that when you write and idea down, when you finally decide to go with it you actually alter what you had written down numerous times? Unluckily for me that has happened to me when I type up something and think I save it, but actually I didn't therefore leaving me to have to rewrite my original idea. This was a good thing because everytime i did it my ideas got better and better. True character do lie in your brain and therefore have a mind of their own, but it's up to the writer to allow them to find their own destiny.
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