I spent
time at a few conventions last year and, as I do, I tried to get lots of
photographs of the various cosplayers there.
I’m always blown away by that sort of thing. I worked in the film industry for years and
it’s amazing to see so many folks who are so dedicated they can do costumes
that are on par (or better, in some cases) than the ones that end up on film.
On the other hand, if I’m someone that’s going to make 99.9999% of humanity say “who the hell is that?”... I’m kind of being a jerk. Because I’m not supposed to be the focus of this picture. And by drawing attention away from what is supposed to be the center of attention, I’ve messed up this image.
Or, for our purposes, this story.
In some
ways, being a writer is a thankless job.
If I do it right, people shouldn’t even notice me. If I do a spectacular
job, people should forget me altogether.
Screenwriters get hit even worse with this—their work is often credited
to the actors or director. The ugly
truth of storytelling is that none of us really care about the storyteller, we
just want to hear the stories.
Some
storytellers try to get noticed. It’s a
deliberate choice. They lean in and draw
attention to themselves. They wink and point. Sometimes they make goofy expressions and
shout “Look at me! Look what I’m
doing!”
When I do
this as a writer, it’s just like photobombing.
Textbombing? Prosebomb? Whatever we want to call it, it’s me drawing
attention away from telling my story, which—in theory--is supposed to be the
focus of my writing.
Here’s a few
simple ways I can make sure I’m not ruining my focus...
Vocabulary—Stephen
King once said that “Any word you have to search for in the thesaurus is the
wrong word.” And, personally, I think
he’s completely right about that. I
don’t think using a thesaurus is bad.
I’ve got one right here on my desk.
I often use it to jog my memory when I know there’s a specific word I’m
looking for, and the easiest way to find it is to look up a synonym.
But some
folks default to their thesaurus. They have
a sentence—let’s say “The thin woman wore a red hat.”—and then just immediately
go to find bigger, better words for it. That’s how you end up with sentences like... well...
“The
rawboned feminine figure accoutred her cranium with a chapeau of deepest carmine
felt.”
That’s me, as a writer, trying to draw attention to myself when you, the reader, want to be
focused on the story.
Any word I choose just to get attention, to
prove I don’t need to use a common, blue-collar word, is the wrong word. Any word that makes my reader stop reading
and start analyzing is the wrong word. I can try to justify my word choice any
way I like, but absolutely no one is picking up my manuscript hoping for a vocabulary lesson. When my reader can’t
figure out what’s being said for the fourth or fifth time and decides to toss
said manuscript in the big pile on the left... there’s only one person to
blame.
Like I
said, I’ve got a thesaurus on my desk.
But it’s not right here in arm’s reach, like the dictionary. It’s a shelf up and off to the side. Just
enough that I really need to stand up to get at it. And move some LEGO people.
Structure—A
friend of mine is really into cirque school.
I’ve seen her do some of those aerial silk tricks where she’ll climb to
the top of the studio, wrap her legs, bring the silk around her body, and then
sort of roll down the silk. She spins and the silk twirls all around her and it
takes two or three minutes for her to work her way back down to the floor. I’m sure most of you reading this have seen
some version of this, either live or maybe on television. Its really beautiful and amazing when done
right.
It’s
also—and she’d be the first to admit this—a really inefficient way to get from
point A to point B. And taking even
longer to do it, well, that just gets exhausting for the performer and the
audience. None of us have the stamina
for that kind of thing. Getting there is
half the fun, absolutely, but the point of most trips is still getting there.
When the
trip itself becomes the focus, it means my goals have shifted. Getting to point B isn’t the important thing
anymore. And since storytelling is, in
essence, getting characters from point A to point B... well...
If I think
of my story as an A—B line (to fall back on geometry), how often does my chosen
structure deviate off that line? How
many times does it not move along the line at all? How often does it go backwards?
I’ve seen
people write page-long sentences which serve no purpose except to be a
page-long sentence. Sure, it’s very
impressive in an MFA, grammatical-accomplishment kind of way, but past that...
does it really advance the story? Is it
pushing the narrative, or just pushing the fact that I sat through half a dozen
classes on creative writing?
If I’m
overloading my story with flashbacks, a non-linear plotline, or twenty-two
points of view... what am I hoping to accomplish? Are they adding anything? Would it honestly lessen the story to not
have them? Or am I just adding in gimmicks that I’ve heard make a story better
without any real understanding of how or why they work?
Just like
how an obscure word is wrong if it’s just there to be obscure, an
overcomplicated structure is wrong if it serves no purpose except to be overcomplicated.
Said—I’ve
mentioned this a few times. People will
never notice if you use said. Honest, they won’t. Said
is invisible. What they notice is when
my characters retort, respond, pontificate, depose, demand, declare, declaim, muse, mutter, mumble, snap, shout, snarl, grumble, growl, bark, whimper, whisper,
hiss, yelp, yell, exclaim, or ejaculate. Yeah, ejaculate. Stop giggling, it was a common dialogue descriptor for many years. Once I’ve got
three or four characters doing this all over the page, I shouldn’t be too
surprised if my audience stops reading to shake their heads or snicker.
Now, granted,
there are times where my characters will be hollering or whispering or snarling. And when that happens, I don’t want my
readers to already be bored by my constant use of different dialogue
descriptors. I want it to count. Overall, they’re
just going to be saying stuff. So I shouldn't overcomplicate things and draw attention to myself.
These are just
a few things to watch for in my writing, granted. There’s always going to be that person who
finds a clever new way to draw attention to themselves. And there will always be exceptions,
sure. Really, though, photobombing my own story isn’t going to be a
winning strategy.
Never forget...
first and foremost, people are showing up for the story.
Quick note, before I forget. If you happen to be in the Los Angeles area, this weekend I'm hosting the Writers Coffeehouse at Dark Delicacies in Burbank on Sunday. It's three hours of writers talking about writing, it's open to everyone, and it's free. Stop by and talk. I guarantee it'll be highly adequate.
Next time, I’d like to talk about a big car accident I was in many years back.
Until then, go write.
Quick note, before I forget. If you happen to be in the Los Angeles area, this weekend I'm hosting the Writers Coffeehouse at Dark Delicacies in Burbank on Sunday. It's three hours of writers talking about writing, it's open to everyone, and it's free. Stop by and talk. I guarantee it'll be highly adequate.
Next time, I’d like to talk about a big car accident I was in many years back.
Until then, go write.
Just don’t
be seen doing it.
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