FEBRUARY 2013 - SIMPLICITY

Circumlocution.
Ambiguity.
Pompousness.
Purple prose.
Roundaboutation . . .



I often wonder what would happen if every would-be writer stopped trying to grab the brass ring of becoming a famous author and was charged $10,000 for every word they set onto their monitor screens and $25,000 for every word they placed in an e-mail. Would that stop the mega-gazillions of words flooding "the cloud," the Internet, blogs, and people's e-mails?  Not to mention what arrives at editors' and agents' desks.  Such wishful thinking . . .

As I said last month, the secret of good writing is clarity and strength. The second secret of good writing is "simplicity."

Simplicity is taking the time to reread what was written and analyze each word, each piece of punctuation, and each sentence's structure. That's right— just stop the finger from hitting the save or send button and reread. Sounds so simple, doesn't it?

Fact is, few go back and reread what they wrote when it comes to blogs and e-mails. Fewer still will reread their story drafts slowly. That's likely due to familiarity with the story and the words, thus glitches and errors will go "unseen."

However, when a reader gets confused, loses track of what's happening to whom, or misinterprets the passage (because of missing words, punctuation pitfalls, etc.), that reader is likely to become frustrated and negatively emotional (angry). Of course, the person the reader blames (and rightfully so) is none other then the person that strung those words together—the writer.

I can't stress enough that readers are not mind-readers. Readers only have the words on the page to go by. Clarity of thought and logic are no accidents. Simplifying for understanding means a writer must switch hats from "creativity" to "editor." Analyzing every word, every sentence, every paragraph also means adopting the KISS mantra of "keep it simple stupid."

So, the question is: Are you willing to take time to simplify your next blog or e-mail entry, or that drafted chapter, or your story manuscript to become a better writer, a more professional writer? If not, why not?

THE SAMPLER IS UPDATED THE FIRST OF EACH MONTH WITH A NEW TOPIC. @2013 by Catherine E. McLean * www.CatherineEmclean.com

Coming in MARCH 2013: "Clutter"
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