Category: Thoughts on writing

Data with a Soul

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Data with a soul

Well crafted stories draw in the reader. The best stories don’t let go until they are done. As a reader, you most likely remember a story you wanted to dive deep and stay there through the night and into the next day until you finished. Then, the moment you got to “the end”, you wished you had not read so fast.

It always amazes me when the 26 letters of the English alphabet combine to communicate not just data and ideas but complete, compelling stories which move the heart, the emotions, and speak soul to soul.

How much should I edit?

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The more you leave out...

“Editing is like gardening, prune the branches, then the leaves.” I don’t remember who said it but it’s good advice. Think topiary.

Prune out the boring bits, the curly bits that go nowhere, the lovely words which don’t relate to the plot but sound wonderful. Copy and paste them into another file and find somewhere else to use them.

Ensure repetition is a rhetorical device for emphasis rather than redundancy.

Prune away the fluff and fuzz, anything which stands between the reader and your story.

Story

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Story make you laugh

This is so true. If your story doesn’t move you, you cannot expect it to move your reader. Keep your reader in mind and what reaction you want to provoke.

Write and rewrite and edit until your words crush the heart in your own chest, tears stream down your cheeks, you can’t stop laughing, until you can’t believe you wrote that. Blow yourself out of the water.

The original writer…

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Finding and developing your own original voice is important. There is nobody like you. Nobody has your unique point of view and outlook on life.

The only secret to finding your voice? There is no secret. Just be yourself. Sound like yourself. Put your words together as nobody else does. Make them sparkle and shine as only you can.