Being a Writer

So, a little different topic today. I wasn't really sure where I was going to put this, but I guess it really doesn't matter, so long as it's published somewhere. Anyway, I want to talk about writing as a discipline, and more importantly, I want to discuss the traits that make a piece of writing perceived as good. Let's dive right in with vocabulary.

Vocab. Adjectives. Verbs. These are all tools that writers use to strengthen a particular piece that they are working on. And by strengthen, I mean add more description so that one or more of a person's senses are stimulated, (you know, touch smell, sight, whatever.) Since it's writing, they can't actually see anything, so description helps. But, is using an extensive vocabulary, versus a minimal vocabulary, the mark of a good writer? Well, it's complicated, but not necessarily. As far as I'm concerned, you have to look at the writing in context with who it's intended audience is. For instance, if it's written for an audience of third to fourth graders, then I wouldn't expect words like "unequivocally" or "obfuscate" to show up. In fact, I would almost prefer that a word like that did not show up, unless the entire text is written like that, in which case, those words would be okay. However, if the audience is for seniors in high school, these types of words might be totally acceptable. But I ask again, does having an eloquent vocabulary make for good writing. For me, good writing is more than big words. People tend to latch on to authors that use large meaningful words because it sort of validates their own intelligence. Only people that understand that level of written language can understand what this author means. I think that's a load of BS personally, because it more or less alienates your potential audience. Any writer will tell you to use the word that fits the best, the word that is the closest to what you meant. I don't try to use big words just for the sake of using those words, I sometimes use them because the situation needed that word, no other word would have worked as well as that one.

We can look as musicians in the same light, most of them are writers themselves, just a different medium. Bands like Green Day, Linkin Park, Panic! at the Disco, Fallout Boy, they use highly complex language. Rappers, country artists, and pop musicians use fairly simple language. It's not because one musician is much more intelligent than the other, it's because bands like Panic! at the Disco and Green Day are a much more specific type of music than say Lil' Yachty. When you're trying to please the masses, then you have to be more general. What effect does that have on the over all intelligence of the audience if there is prolonged exposure? Well, that's a blog for another day I think, but let's move on to my next topic: storytelling.

So you've accepted that writing isn't about having the greatest vocabulary ever, okay. But what about the story itself? Does a movie like the Sixth Sense, which has these great twists and turns, and keeps you guessing, better then a movie like I-Robot, which is pretty transparent as far a plot goes? For me, we can answer this one yes or no, because in my opinion plot is everything. If an author doesn't have a good story, then it will not be good. You can have great characters, but if all you make them do is walk in a straight line, then the book/movie is going to be terrible. My example of this would be Suicide Squad, the movie. I talk about this waaaaay more in depth on my Writers Box blog post I wrote a while ago, but in a nut shell, the movie lacked any sort of concise plot. SOME, I won't say all, of the characters were pretty good, but the plot killed any chance they might have had in making it an okay movie. I'll start by saying that the plot does not have to be complex. In fact, over convoluted stories are usually bad too, in my opinion. So what gives, where's the middle ground? The middle ground is found when you include only the essential in the story, and realize that it cannot go on forever. I know you really love that scene where that character get's ice cream with their friends, but if it doesn't forward the plot, character development, or narrate one of the themes/messages you've chosen for the book, sorry, it might be time to take it out. Writing is an art form like anything else , only include the things you want to be told. If the book continuously takes you on side journeys for no apparent reason, then that tells me the writer ran out of ideas, wanted the story to be novel length, so he/she added seven pages of lore that you really don't need to understand THIS particular story. The final thing I'll mention is about the actual structure of writing.

In order to be a great writer, you must have excellent grammatical skills. Where to put punctuation, paragraph indentation, spelling, sentence structure, and word usage. You must become a master of it. Now, every work of art has mistakes with it, even years after it has been published. Don't think for one second that you are a bad writer because you missed a few commas in your novel. Most people will not notice and it'll be more than fine. And please don't fret if a few words are misspelled. It's fine! Commenting on my grammar/structure in my writing is not something that I personally value. If I've have over 1,000 mistakes in a novel, which I have before, those can be fixed up relatively easily. If my plot sucks, welp, the novel sucks. If my characters suck, welp, so does the novel. I'm not saying it's not important, everyone should try to minimize as many of the structural errors that the novel has, but just know this: There. Will. Always. Be. Mistakes. If the writing is good enough, most people will look past the occasional missed comma, or run on sentence, but just know, if it becomes a regular thing in the novel, then it becomes a problem.

The most important factors in writing, as far as I am concerned, is the actual story/plot, and the characters in it. Make it interesting, fun, and mind bending, and you're sure to win over an audience. Then comes what vocabulary you use. Just remember for that one who your intended audience is, and you should be totally fine. And lastly, the least important is the structure of the writing, we're looking for grammatical efficiency here. Again, it needs focus, but I don't think it will make a novel crash and burn, unless there any multiple mistakes in every chapter.

What do you value in writing? I'd love to hear from you below, so don't forget to leave a comment before you go!