Posts Tagged by audience
The Punctuation Buffet: Comma, Colon, or Em Dash?
| January 2, 2011 | Posted by JerriCook under Punctuation, Structure, Uncategorized |
Don't pile it on too high at the punctuation buffet.
Writers have an array of punctuation choices, just like a patron at buffet. It all looks so good, but too much mixing and matching or piling it on too high has gastronimical consequences. We want to give our readers a smooth treat, properly seasoned and delivered. That’s where punctuation and style meet—at the punctuation buffet, and like any other buffet, some things are just standard. The punctuation buffet always has commas, colons, and em dashes. The trick is to pick the right helping for your style, which is the plate you offer to your reader.
Commas have been described as speed bumps, but I prefer to think of them as fork-sized bites. Use a comma when you are adding just a taste of something complementary to the fork, like you would if you were eating a salad. Pick up a piece of lettuce, a bite of tomato, and dip the whole thing lightly into the dressing. Commas tie things together that belong together. (more…)
That's Hot: Using Adjectives To Spice Up Your Writing
| December 18, 2010 | Posted by JerriCook under Punctuation |
Some like it hot. Adjectives can spice up your writing.
If variety is the spice of life, then adjectives are the spice of writing. A few well-placed adjectives add depth and flavor to your writing. But, like anything else, too much of a good thing can ruin the entire concoction. Knowing when to use an adjective and where in the sentence to place it is as important as knowing which spice to add to your stew, and how much of it to incorporate.
Let’s start at the beginning. An adjective modifies a noun. Simple enough. The adjective shows the reader what you are trying to convey, and using just the right descriptor at the right time makes a huge difference. Like Mark Twain said: (more…)
The Worst Writing Advice Ever
| December 14, 2010 | Posted by JerriCook under Becoming a writer, Know Your Audience, The Writing Process |
Don't let bad advice come between you and your writing.
You’ve heard it. We’ve all heard it—write what you know. The oldest writing maxim known to Man is also the worst. It keeps would-be writers at bay like an angry police dog, hungry for the chase. Beginning writers are so terrified of it that they cower in fear with their eyes covered. If, however, they took a moment to look at the snarling beast that is keeping them from mastering their craft, they would see that the leash restraining it is held by an incompetent writer. The snarling beast isn’t trying to devour you, dear would-be writer. It’s trying desperately to escape the reigns that bind it to the writing elite, who want you to believe that writing what you know is good advice. Trust me when I tell you it’s not good advice, and the people who have told you it is are either incompetent or afraid of a little competition.
Here’s a better piece of advice—write what you’ve experienced. This is the essence of what writers do. We write about what we’ve done, what we’ve seen, and the people that have caused us great pain and great joy. It is our experiences that make us unique, and as country writers, we have all sorts of experiences. To illustrate my point, here’s an article I wrote for my column in The Country Today. It’s about an experience I had with a couple of kids in the garden. (more…)
Follow Me: Avoiding Non Sequitors In Your Writing
| December 10, 2010 | Posted by JerriCook under Becoming a writer, Structure, The Writing Process |
A good writer is like a good shepard who keeps his flock from going astray
The term “non sequitor” is Latin. It means “doesn’t follow.” Simply put, a non sequitor is an inference that doesn’t follow the premises. While the term is most often associated with the study of rhetorical analysis, writers make this mistake on a regular basis, and it baffles the reader. Once a reader stumbles over this giant obstacle to comprehension, they might decide not to go on. If you want to be read from beginning to end, don’t force your readers to run the gauntlet of structural errors.
The example below is from the January/February 2011 issue of Dairy Goat Journal. The non sequitor looms in front of the reader like an insurmountable wall roped with razor wire. (more…)
Writing Is About The Reader
| December 9, 2010 | Posted by JerriCook under Know Your Audience, literary devices |
Old book bindings at the Merton College, Oxford library.
One of the biggest mistakes a writer can make is believing that writing is about the author. It’s not. Writing is about the reader. No one cares about the writer. Sadly, people who have fine arts degrees and high-end educations seem to miss this critical point. Nothing makes me cringe more than an article submitted by someone who is a “trained” writer or has the letters MFA or PhD behind their name. It signals I’m in for a boring read that might be grammatically correct, but uninspiring and flat.
What’s worse, these folks are fond of using “literary devices.” This is a highfalutin excuse for deviating from grammatical norms. It’s supposed to show the reader how crafty, brilliant, and original the author is. Instead, it signals to the reader that they are being talked down to, which guarantees the reader will move on. (more…)
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