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Inclinations

Priscilla Fagan

Words, Words, Words

Polonius asked: "What do you read, my lord?"

Hamlet answered: "Words, words, words."

The mark of a writer: the written word. Ah, but the trick is to use them with caution and convey the meaning of what you're trying to say in as few words as possible. Hemingway said, "All our words from loose using have lost their edge." Yes, we can fill a manuscript with words, thousands of words, but we can also lose our reader if we don't move the story along and this is where unnecessary words can get in the way. "I hate anything that occupies more space then it is worth. I hate to see a parcel of big words without anything in them." William Hazlett, 1822.

Mark Twain tells us, "I never write 'metropolis' for seven cents because I can get the same price for 'city.' I never write 'policeman' because I can get the same money for 'cop.'" C.S. Lewis puts it a different way, "Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something 'really' infinite." Simplify! Don't send readers to the dictionary if you can help it. I tell that to myself whenever I'm tempted to use a word such as 'unsalvageable' when I know 'hopeless' will convey the meaning.

H.W. Fowler said in A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, "Those who run to long words are mainly the unskillful and tasteless; they confuse pomposity with dignity, flaccidity with ease, and bulk with force."

The art of writing is rewriting and that's where the real work begins. Where we omit those useless words and find the right words. Mark Twain said, "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." William Safire said in the New York Times Magazine, "Why use a modifier to set straight a not-quite-right noun when the right noun is available?" My advice is to find an excellent book on revision and keep it next to you at all times. Walt Whitman remarked in 1888, "The best writing has no lace on its sleeves." So, you say you have a manuscript ready to send out with 150,000 words? I'll go out on a limb and say, wanna bet? Roll up your sleeves fellow writers and get to work. Oh, and don't forget, you are having fun.

Words, words, words, as Shakespeare wrote. It's not enough, just to write a story that flows from your head and ends up on paper. That's just the beginning and yes, the push you needed, but it's the blood, sweat and tears that turn that original idea into a manuscript. Leo Rosten said, "The only reason for being a professional writer is that you just can't help it." Why else would we put ourselves through rewrite after rewrite looking for better words? In a nutshell; I just can't help it.

I leave you with this beautiful perspective from Maya Angelou, "The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart."

I wish you all a safe and prosperous New Year.

Until next month, I remain,
Priscilla the eternal optimist