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mbarkerOriginal Posting April 1, 2017
Writer's Digest, March 1996, for the technique of the month, had an article on pages 29-31, and 67, by Arthur Plotnik, with the title "The Elements of Force." The subtitle is a teaser!
"From oath to understatement, force comes to expression in a thousand potent forms, yet our discourse runs to the feeble," says this author and editor. But it doesn't have to be this way: Read on to discover how you can load your writing with word grenades, sound bursts and other power boosters.
Word grenades? Whoa!
Arthur starts out by talking about the tendency to deal with stock situations with stock phrases. However, sometimes we want "to express the extraordinary, to achieve self-expression, to pierce resistant minds," and the way to do that? Deploy the elements of force!
For example, the force of love. He describes visual effects in films, and the simple single-syllable words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning: "I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach."
And then he talks about where expressive force comes from. Words, symbolism, sound, figures of speech, arrangement… Impingement! We may think of forceful expression in terms of rules from freshman composition:
– Use powerful verbs, closely linked to subject and object
– use concrete language that stimulates the senses
– trim the fat; omit redundant words and needless clauses
But Arthur is going to provide us with a series of helpful tools. Start out with powerful charms. What does that mean? Well, some words have associations. In particular, specific things that kick us in the experiences and emotions. Words and associations, resonating in our minds. Now, how can you do that?
Start with power boosters! High-energy verbs. We all know that verbs are the action in sentences. So use the ones that have punch behind them. Novelty, freshness, and zing.
Word grenades. Arthur is talking about the difference between a pile of words such as "The students made a total wreck of our apartment like some kind of wild animals have been locked up in it," and "The students savaged our apartment." One word, savaged, explodes with meaning. Find that energetic word and put it in your sentence.
Sound bursts. Onomatopoeia? Words that sound like nature. Shared sounds, the hiss of stimulants, and the crunch of hard consonants. Use those sounds that are built into our words.
Wake up images. Sometimes we need the exciting image in the middle of description so that we think about what's happening.
Tension. We all know you want conflict in your story. Well, expressions can provoke worry, disturbance, fright. Headlines are often crafted to make you jump. Build the tension, and then provide catharsis or release.
Nowness. Be careful of fashion, fads in vogue today often sound awkward tomorrow, but while they're fresh, they certainly can add a little to your writing. Just be aware that you are also dating yourself. And even with the best of intentions, you may not be able to keep up with the hippies? Hipsters? What are the cool young people called today?
Music, rhythm, soul. Attention to music. Ethnic dialect, regional accents, and musical rhythms often make audiences feel comfortable.
Forces of nature. Natural forces and disasters certainly provide a lot of energy. Beware cliché and melodrama, though.
Irreverence. Prick, don't bludgeon. Insults and blasphemies are shocks, but readers don't like them. A little irreverence, however, can make the audience think about things.
Sincerity. Honest, heartfelt values. You need to mean it, and say it in a way that shows you are honest about it. You can't fake sincerity. But when you really mean it, sometimes it shows.
All right? So there's a whole group of possibilities for helping your writing express your meaning with force. Light the fire with high energy verbs, blow things up with some word grenades, make your words sound off, and give your readers images they don't expect. And that's just the first four!
An exercise? Well, an obvious possibility is to take something you have been working on, a scene or action sketch, and look for places you used each of these tools. Then go through, and see if there are places you can tighten it up by applying one or more of these tools! Can you slide in a high-energy verb? How about planting a word grenade in that scene? What are the sounds of your words? Add in an image that makes the reader pay attention? Go ahead, make your reader's day!
tink
Writer's Digest, March 1996, for the technique of the month, had an article on pages 29-31, and 67, by Arthur Plotnik, with the title "The Elements of Force." The subtitle is a teaser!
"From oath to understatement, force comes to expression in a thousand potent forms, yet our discourse runs to the feeble," says this author and editor. But it doesn't have to be this way: Read on to discover how you can load your writing with word grenades, sound bursts and other power boosters.
Word grenades? Whoa!
Arthur starts out by talking about the tendency to deal with stock situations with stock phrases. However, sometimes we want "to express the extraordinary, to achieve self-expression, to pierce resistant minds," and the way to do that? Deploy the elements of force!
For example, the force of love. He describes visual effects in films, and the simple single-syllable words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning: "I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach."
And then he talks about where expressive force comes from. Words, symbolism, sound, figures of speech, arrangement… Impingement! We may think of forceful expression in terms of rules from freshman composition:
– Use powerful verbs, closely linked to subject and object
– use concrete language that stimulates the senses
– trim the fat; omit redundant words and needless clauses
But Arthur is going to provide us with a series of helpful tools. Start out with powerful charms. What does that mean? Well, some words have associations. In particular, specific things that kick us in the experiences and emotions. Words and associations, resonating in our minds. Now, how can you do that?
Start with power boosters! High-energy verbs. We all know that verbs are the action in sentences. So use the ones that have punch behind them. Novelty, freshness, and zing.
Word grenades. Arthur is talking about the difference between a pile of words such as "The students made a total wreck of our apartment like some kind of wild animals have been locked up in it," and "The students savaged our apartment." One word, savaged, explodes with meaning. Find that energetic word and put it in your sentence.
Sound bursts. Onomatopoeia? Words that sound like nature. Shared sounds, the hiss of stimulants, and the crunch of hard consonants. Use those sounds that are built into our words.
Wake up images. Sometimes we need the exciting image in the middle of description so that we think about what's happening.
Tension. We all know you want conflict in your story. Well, expressions can provoke worry, disturbance, fright. Headlines are often crafted to make you jump. Build the tension, and then provide catharsis or release.
Nowness. Be careful of fashion, fads in vogue today often sound awkward tomorrow, but while they're fresh, they certainly can add a little to your writing. Just be aware that you are also dating yourself. And even with the best of intentions, you may not be able to keep up with the hippies? Hipsters? What are the cool young people called today?
Music, rhythm, soul. Attention to music. Ethnic dialect, regional accents, and musical rhythms often make audiences feel comfortable.
Forces of nature. Natural forces and disasters certainly provide a lot of energy. Beware cliché and melodrama, though.
Irreverence. Prick, don't bludgeon. Insults and blasphemies are shocks, but readers don't like them. A little irreverence, however, can make the audience think about things.
Sincerity. Honest, heartfelt values. You need to mean it, and say it in a way that shows you are honest about it. You can't fake sincerity. But when you really mean it, sometimes it shows.
All right? So there's a whole group of possibilities for helping your writing express your meaning with force. Light the fire with high energy verbs, blow things up with some word grenades, make your words sound off, and give your readers images they don't expect. And that's just the first four!
An exercise? Well, an obvious possibility is to take something you have been working on, a scene or action sketch, and look for places you used each of these tools. Then go through, and see if there are places you can tighten it up by applying one or more of these tools! Can you slide in a high-energy verb? How about planting a word grenade in that scene? What are the sounds of your words? Add in an image that makes the reader pay attention? Go ahead, make your reader's day!
tink