Thursday 17 January 2008

Good Writing Help

Use words like fabulous as often as possible, so as to induce the release of quantities of the chemical serotonin in the mind-body system of the reader, and consequently feelings of well-being will result which will ensure positive feelings towards your writing.
For example:

The sky was a fabulous hue, rich and vibrant in the most marvellous sense. He inhaled both in the normal sense, but also in the sense of visually with his eyes. He felt both fabulous and fantastic in equal measure.

This works as literature in too many ways to discuss for now, but if one is to methodically examine the piece, the most strikingly thematic and poetically unifying element is the use of highly charged positive words such as fabulous, rich, vibrant, marvellous, fabulous again, and finally fantastic. The second daring use of fabulous particularly helps the piece achieve something quite extraordinary. But be aware that this use of repetition is not without its dangers; employing such a device is to walk a tightrope, and in the hands of one unsure of his craft may be enough to unbalance the whole, and Icarus-like, send it crashing to disaster.
The discerning reader may have noticed the echoing of 'sense' in the middle period of the piece, which also helped indissolubly bind the threads of the reader's reality to that of the writing, though the effortlessness with which I achieved such subtleties of expression may fool the undiscerning as to the difficulties such alchemical workings may pose to the lesser creator.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

So you actually wrote that excerpt? I really thought it was Milton or Proust.

Andrew said...

I can see why you might think so, but no, it was neither of the mentioned.

Neil Forsyth said...

You fooled me.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering if you could make some commments on a description that I have been writing. I feel like your input could be valuable, if you don't mind. Here's what I have written. Do you think it could be improved? —

"He returned to them with fresh admiriation of the surrounding country; in his walk to the village he had seen many parts of the valley to advantage; and the village itself, in a much higher situation than the cottage, afforded a general view of the whole, which had exceedingly pleased him."

Andrew said...

"He returned to them with fresh admiriation of the surrounding country; in his walk to the village he had seen many parts of the valley to advantage; and the village itself, in a much higher situation than the cottage, afforded a general view of the whole, which had exceedingly pleased him."

I would only suggest the use of a little more repitition, particularly as folllows:

He returned to them with fresh admiriation of the surrounding country; in his walk to the village he had seen many parts of the valley to advantage; and the village itself, in a much higher situation than the cottage, afforded a general view of the whole, which had exceedingly pleased him, and as intimated had contributed greatly to the elevated admiration he now felt for the surrounding country, due to having seen many parts of it to their best advantage, thus contributing to his feeling quite fabulous.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your help. I was also wondering if you could give me your advice on this passage, which I hope to use at the conclusion of a story I am writing. I particularly wanted to know if you think any parts are too overdone or what changes you would make.

"Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."

Andrew said...

I'm not sure I can help you there. It's unadulterated shite; even James Joyce couldn't get that kind of stuff published.

Anonymous said...

Aha! I knew this posting was all a joke. Very clever, Mr K.

Toast said...

Gee, Andrew. You didn't mind helping J revise some lines from Jane Austen. Won't you do the same for Joyce?

Neil Forsyth said...

Will you ever fuck off, Toast? Have you no idea what a detestable little worm you are?

Both rhetorical questions, by the way.