Category: Writing

Why ‘Zoetic Words’?

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My given name is Zoe, derived from the ancient Greek for life. As a girl, fascinated with words, I came across zoetic in an old dictionary. A rare or archaic word with the same derivation as my name, zoetic means living or vital. Also from the same derivation is zoetrope, the Victorian toy you see below.

Words on the page, of themselves, are little more than patterns of ink on paper and can be just as dry to read. Like a zoetrope, my aim as a writer and editor is to give life and vitality to black squiggles. Words ought to sparkle, shine, and move me to laughter or tears before I send them out into the world. There I want them to sing and dance in the mind and imagination of readers.

How could I call my business anything but Zoetic Words?

Words are alive

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Emerson was reportedly speaking of Michel de Montaigne, a sixteenth-century Frenchman and his literary idol. “The sincerity and marrow of the man reaches to his sentences. I know not anywhere the book that seems less written. It is the language of conversation transferred to a book. Cut these words, and they would bleed; they are vascular and alive. One has the same pleasure in it that we have in listening to the necessary speech of men about their work, when any unusual circumstance give momentary importance to the dialogue.”

A great writer appears on the page in a voice as individual and distinctive as his or her thoughts. Relax into your voice. Be your unique self, open your heart and let your voice shine.

Make it clearer and closer

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Have you ever become so immersed in a book that you became oblivious to everything else? Has a story grabbed you and not let go until you got to ‘The End’? Reality recedes when you dive deep enough to live in a story world, hearing, seeing, feeling and smelling it as if it is happening to you. Storytelling like this will bring readers back to your books.

Especially in romantic fiction, deepening point of view is effective for pulling your reader so far in that they feel as if they experience the story. Look for anything which could obscure or put distance between the reader and the story.

What kind of things? See https://creativityhacker.ca/2015/12/01/51-things-that-break-reader-immersion/

As difficult as to be good

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Many writers struggle against perfectionism. In previous posts we discussed omitting extra words, editing for clarity. Simple clarity is not in the least easy to achieve. It never has been. As far back as 1837 writer and poet Thomas Hood quoted “the easiest reading is damned hard writing”.

We know that no human is perfect. Neither can anybody be ‘good’ all the time. Yet we often make the mistake of expecting perfection in our writing. The number of articles devoted to defeating perfectionist tendencies toward gives us a clue as to the extent of the struggle. All anyone can do is their best and to strive to improve. At some time we have to say enough and submit.

Words will flow

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"Read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river." Lisa See, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

As writers, we need to read in order to fill up the well of creativity.

Reading good books broadens and expands one’s mind, vocabulary, and horizons. It exposes one to new writing styles, voices, ideas, and viewpoints. It gives one the opportunity to learn about writing by studying how our betters use words, structure sentences, stories, and arguments.

We can learn from pretty much anyone and anything. Learning what not to do almost as important as learning what to do. So, please excuse me while I get back to my book…