What Happens When We Write
We want to entertain our readers. We want to paint pictures for them with our words and carry them with us on a journey through our minds and our pages. In order to do that, we have a lot of work to do. As writers, we don't simply write; we create.
There are several things that come to mind right about now. We always want to remember to keep it simple. We don't want to treat our readers like children, but we do have to write with our readers in mind. Keep the story simple. Complicated plots might get your characters into a lot of trouble, but it might also get you into a tangle as well. If things get too complicated, we are likely to leave loose ends.
Keep the language simple as well. Again, we don't need to write down to our reader, but we aren't writing to show off our vocabularies either. We want to be understood regardless of who our readers happen to be. That is not to say that we don't want to provide description and narrative. We do. We just don't want to go overboard in any one department.
A lot of writing deals with maintaining a balance. We maintain that balance with the words we use and the stories we tell. We want to be compelling but not too forceful. We want to be inviting but not cloying. We want to be entertaining, but not to the point of silliness. We want to do enough.
This November, many of the writers I read are trying to do a 50,000 word book. That is a wonderful goal. However, not all subject matter lends itself to that many words. We don't want to write more than we need to simply to make some self-imposed goal. On the other hand, we don't want to leave our reader dissatisfied that we haven't given them enough either.
There are so many considerations when writing. I might be great to simply sit down and write as I do, but writing of this sort doesn't necessarily accomplish any goal. To be successful, we need to accomplish something with our writing.
There are several things that come to mind right about now. We always want to remember to keep it simple. We don't want to treat our readers like children, but we do have to write with our readers in mind. Keep the story simple. Complicated plots might get your characters into a lot of trouble, but it might also get you into a tangle as well. If things get too complicated, we are likely to leave loose ends.
Keep the language simple as well. Again, we don't need to write down to our reader, but we aren't writing to show off our vocabularies either. We want to be understood regardless of who our readers happen to be. That is not to say that we don't want to provide description and narrative. We do. We just don't want to go overboard in any one department.
A lot of writing deals with maintaining a balance. We maintain that balance with the words we use and the stories we tell. We want to be compelling but not too forceful. We want to be inviting but not cloying. We want to be entertaining, but not to the point of silliness. We want to do enough.
This November, many of the writers I read are trying to do a 50,000 word book. That is a wonderful goal. However, not all subject matter lends itself to that many words. We don't want to write more than we need to simply to make some self-imposed goal. On the other hand, we don't want to leave our reader dissatisfied that we haven't given them enough either.
There are so many considerations when writing. I might be great to simply sit down and write as I do, but writing of this sort doesn't necessarily accomplish any goal. To be successful, we need to accomplish something with our writing.
posted by Vickie at 7:14 PM
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