TECH: Making the Most of Posting

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 24 June 1994

[carping at the flood of inanity? tis unlike thee to cast stones while fishing, but perhaps the pain of the hook will be dulled by the tasty weight of weaseling words? onward, then, and keep thy line taut, but pray avoid tautology lest none be taught...]

small points (though none too short):

1. Consider your readers. (for those searching for the mystical magical secret of writing, there it is. have at it!)

2. Every message has a cost. Try to make sure your content or your style, preferably both, are worth (your readers) while and smile.

(for the mathematically desperate - multiply the value of your content times the wit of your words, then add bonus points for editing, revision, and thoughtful pondering before posting. if the result is great, don't hesitate. if not so fine, wait against a reputation lost, a soul hurt, and other poisoned words of vile repute.)

potentially pretentious slogans (for the sloganly...)

Time and taste wait for good posting...
I shall post no words before I've refined?
If you can't write anything good, don't spread it around.
(and other foolish sprayings of gelded words...:-)

3. Context lost is not paradise lost - but neither should one load the plate with fat and hope no one notices how small the shred of meat hiding therein. I.e., make sure your reader knows what you are talking about, but trim the extra weight of older words to what is needed...

(five minutes of your editing means 400 people don't have to wade through those missing words - and displays your points most attractively! [and we all adore admiring points?])

3. Short retorts must wait for your finest careful scribing, lest they be mere puffs of noise. Often enough, a bundle of thin reeds provides a better feast for toilers than those tossed one by one unheeded in the wind.

4. He who speaks least often is heard most clearly, and fewer postings let your readers ponder harder on the fine and wondrous writing that expresses deep and careful thinking. Besides, it leaves more time for drinking from the other wells of wisdom, wit, and wonder. Or just for beer, coffee, or ups and downs of your selection.

(again, for the mathematically inept - the more you babble, the less the impact of each one. Consider making each posting a masterstroke of your writerly craft and art. You may post less, but think of the delight we'll all find in seeing your true abilities shining.)

[enough! perhaps too much... let me recommend a reading of Strunk and White's little book, and then to read, for in those strange postings, there must be a dream or two about to awake...]

for those of you who may not have your copy of the little book handy...

1. Place yourself in the background
2. Write in a way that comes naturally
3. Work from a suitable design
4. Write with nouns and verbs
5. Revise and rewrite
6. Do not overwrite
7. Do not overstate
8. Avoid the use of qualifiers
9. Do not affect a breezy manner
10. Use orthodox spelling
11. Do not explain too much
12. Do not construct awkward adverbs
13. Make sure the reader knows who is speaking
14. Avoid fancy words
15. Do not use dialect unless your ear is good
16. Be clear
17. Do not inject opinion
18. Use figures of speech sparingly
19. Do not take shortcuts at the cost of clarity
20. Avoid foreign languages
21. Prefer the standard to the offbeat

guilty! guilty, and guilty again.

but for my last request, may I have another fine goulash of galumphery and fiddlesticks from the WRITERS list?

<off with his head!>
tink
     ....
        ....
            t
ink lost it

TECH: Getting Started on Your 200 Word Wonder

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Sun, 3 Aug 1997 00:04:02 EDT

The deadline is coming up day by day on the calendar, and you still haven't figured out how to shoehorn a story into just 200 words?

[Actually, this is generous. Robyn, our master of the miniature marvels, prefers the 100 word jewel--usually doing them in all one-syllable words, to make the jaw drop harder. But the contest is 200 words.]

So, let's consider blocking out a 200 word story. We probably want to go with something simple, such as:

Opening scene - 50 words. Establish main characters, show goal(s), and set the story question for the reader.

[ Once upon a time, there were three pigs and a wolf. The wolf loved nothing better than huffing and puffing and blowing houses down. The pigs, having left home because they had other fat to fry as they turned from cute little piglets into real boars, each built a home. 50 words]

One or two intermediate scenes - 100 words. Add some details, build up the tension and the stakes, and don't forget that the protagonist needs to be lose in these scenes! Things should get harder for the protagonist, not easier...

[ The first pig was way too eager to dive into the garbage that mom had always kept him out of, so he just grabbed a piece of cardboard and set up housekeeping in the street. The wolf laughed, puffed without trying, and then grabbed a tail sticking out of the pizza boxes. And that was the end of the first pig.

The second pig listened to a realtor and bought a real fixer-upper, cheap. Then he called the psychic hotline and asked when he should fix it. He was still listening when the wolf dropped by.

"I'd huff, and I'd puff, but you don't even have a door!"

That was the end of the second pig. 126 words...bit fat, there. trim later]

Then comes the ending scene, the climax of the story, where good and bad face off, where write meets rong and tells y, and all that jazz. Aim at 50 words, and you'll be pretty close.

[ The third pig founded a society.

When the wolf saw Porcine Aid Society stickers on every house, and all those eyes watching him when he walked near the home of the third pig, he gulped, swallowed, and decided to look for easier pickings.

And that's the end of this tale. 50 Words!]

Next, especially with these little beauties, go back and polish. Take out words that don't contribute. Turn the pages of your thesaurus and make sure you are using the exactly right word--show your reader Twain's lightning, not the lightning bug.

Tighten it up, make the words sing, and send it along

Tick, tick, tick...10 more days!