Choose Your Words Carefully
“The
difference between the almost right word and the right word
is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
~Mark Twain
I
read a lot of books (it goes with the territory). I’m open to pretty much any
genre (except the really scary horror stuff … I’m a big chicken). Authors who
have a true, molded gift for writing can blow me away with their work. Sadly,
that doesn’t happen as often as I’d like. But oh when it does … I question
whether I’m talented enough to read my Kindle while driving down the
interstate. (I don’t, of course. Kids – don’t try this at home, er, on the
road…)
My
daughter makes fun of me because I often refuse to read books that everyone is
raving about. Oh, I’ll read them … later. I don’t know why, but I don’t want to
read them when everyone else is reading them. So I wait … and read them six
months later when all the hootin’ and hollerin’ has subsided. (Twilight and The
Hunger Games are two that come to mind.)
Then
there are books that I know I will never
read, no matter how much people rave
about them. For example, I had NO plans of reading 50 shades of anything
whatsoever. Everyone I knew was reading it and asking me if I had (um, no), but
when will I (um, never). I didn’t care how well it was selling; I know darn
well that sales don’t always have anything to do with the quality of work. It
wasn’t until an Editor/Author friend asked me if I’d read it to give her my
opinion (she wanted to know “what’s the big whoopin’ deal with this book?”)
that I relented. By chapter five I could no longer take the horrible word
repetition. I could not sit back and just read because every time she described
something and followed it with “…oh my,” I thought … Ugh, she said it again! Why didn’t her Editor tell her she’s saying “oh
my” too many times?!
It
happens 72 times in the book, y’all. SEVENTY-TWO TIMES.
...Enough
about that. The point here is, when you’re writing, choose your words
carefully. Read, reread, write, rewrite. I know, I know, I’m always saying
that, but seriously, think about the picture you’re painting. See if you can
re-word it in a way that makes the reader form his own image, rather than
always doing it for him.
“Don't
tell me the moon is shining;
show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
~Anton Chekhov
The
world needs more Anton Chekhovs. You’re out there. I’ve read your work (even if
they weren’t talking about it on the morning show; in fact, especially if they weren’t talking about
it).
Thank
you, to all the wonderful writers out there, for sharing your gift with the
world.
Jen
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