It's a funny thing, writing. You can do so much with it. Write a letter, note, speech, story, poem, capture a five second moment and stretch it out into a span of one paragraph, twist things around so that it makes you sound witty, intelligent, and hilarious. You can even make yourself sound as though you are an illiterate mess that has no idea what words go where, so the inner hick pukes all over the page and causes the reader's nose to wrinkle in dissatisfaction. Let me show you an example of a short moment turned into a simple paragraph.
"The wings of a dandelion yellow butterfly flitted above the luscious green grass of the landscape, its six thin legs only an eighth of an inch away from skimming the blades. With one graceful glide, it landed softly onto the deep blue surface of some soft Morning Glory petals, spreading its bright, intricate patterns across its surface. Never before had there been such brilliant contrast between two colors before, allowing the delicate insect to stand out amongst the rest of the scenery. Its tongue remained curled under its large, black eyes, and only a second or two later, it unraveled the thin drinking straw of its body, dipping it into the depths of the Glory's pool. The nectar was sweet and refreshing, and once the drink was complete, the tongue once again tucked itself under the eyes of the fragile bug. The butterfly began to slowly open and close its wings, and then with sudden speed, it took off into the air, once more ready to move onto the next flower."
Now that you have finished reading the paragraph, just imagine how quickly that moment would have gone by had you been watching the butterfly do that simple action. Also note that since it is in writing, you can read the same action happening over and over again instead of waiting for it to occur with a different colored flower, which ultimately, would not have the same imagery as it would have had with the flower beforehand. That's what makes writing such a beautiful and precious thing. You can see moments occur over and over again in your head with descriptive imagery and never risk missing it due to time constraints. It has always amazed me how much power is in the written word; how much control you have over the things that you see in your own mind. Maybe had Hitler gotten into serious writing, he could have made himself dictator over the entire world without having to actually do it. Would he have been shunned for such a book? Probably. But would it have been better than actually trying to take over the world? Heck yeah.
With writing, I can even change who I am as a person. I could make myself shorter, thinner, stronger, wittier. It would be easy to do, granted that no one actually knows who I am in real life. However, I think that inside, writers never are just one person. They are a number of different people all crammed into one shell. I often feel like there are many different voices talking to each other all at once inside my mind, and I'm surprised you can't hear them screaming at each other through my ears. Wouldn't it be an interesting experience to be sitting in your English class writing something, and then all of a sudden hear an audible, "Make me sound more handsome, because I am, after all!" "Oh, get over yourself, you cocky asshole!" "Why don't you keep your mouth shut! Just because she made you ugly--" "Excuse me!" "BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP IN HERE!!" Imagine the looks you would get from your surrounding classmates. Haha. I think writers would definitely have to have some noise-cancelling headphones on to keep those guys quiet! But it's true that you have to have a sense of who other people are in order to make up characters who have strong personalities. Without that, you just can't write short stories or novels. And the same goes for poetry. Unless you have a deep connection with your inner self and your emotions, you simply can't do it. I think that writers have to have some sort of knowledge of who they are as people in order to come up with imaginative ideas that will make sense, and they have to be able to place themselves in those ideas to get a feel for what (in their minds) is actually happening. To do to your characters is what you mentally do to yourself, pleasant or unpleasant, and that's just the way it goes. Understand it, then grasp it.
I can tell you right now that writing is no walk in the park. Some of my friends say that they enjoy writing, or that they were thinking about trying it out. But it's something that you have to build experience on, and it's something that you have to want in order to make it happen. And, as much as I hate to say this, you have to know your grammar. I know so many people who would be fantastic writers if they knew where to put their commas, periods, semicolons, apostrophes, etc. Without knowing the essentials, the story isn't going to flow, and the reader is going to be scraping his or her knees every few words or sentences because of it. To write a story without grammar is to lay down a cement sidewalk filled with rough, uneven rocks. It's painful to walk on, and it's difficult to get to the end of. Whenever I read a story with poor grammar, it annoys me because it gives me work to do that I shouldn't have to be doing. A reader is supposed to lay back and enjoy a smooth ride through the pages, not sit with a red pen and mark all the mistakes. So, I think that any writer out there can agree with me when I tell you wanna-be writers to KNOW YOUR GRAMMAR. Yes, writing does have rules, surprise surprise.
Also, I would like to throw in there that as much as I love great vocabulary, please please PLEASE don't use words that no one else is going to know the meanings of. During my freshman year of high school, my English teacher was teaching us how to write a thesis statement. I distinctly remember this guy in my class who told all of us that he had a very advanced vocabulary and that he liked using big words. On the day we brought our reports in, we had to read them to our classmates. So of course, big vocabulary man walked up to the podium and began to read his essay, and let me tell you, I had no idea what he was saying. Half of the report was composed of gigantic or complicated words that no freshman would (or should) know at that age. So of course, I suffered through it with a gigantic question mark floating above my head (you know, like the type of shit you see in video games). I'm not sure that I would be able to tell you what half those words are to this day, but it's just a turn off for a reader when you use big words for the sake of using big words. Sure, it may make you look like Mr. Fancy Pants for a few sentences, but then it turns from admiration, to confusion, to hostile thoughts, such as, Oh, buddy, if only my arms were long enough to reach your neck...
Now, I hate thinking maliciously of people, but if you're not going to teach me what language you're speaking in, yes, I will have the urge to march up to you and strangle the heck out of you. Some of you may be thinking But Stephanie, you use large words sometimes. Yes, I do occasionally. However, those are actually the first words that come to mind when I write because I am well educated in that department. So no, if I use a big word, my goal is not to confuse you. It is to describe to the best of my ability. I also hate to use big words consecutively in one sentence. You will never see me write something such as, "The ravenous, famished mongrel devoured the broiled veal sitting on the mesa above the linoleum floor." When you try to dress a sentence up like that, it just sounds like a bunch of barf spewing out at you. Now, people who actually know what those words mean may disagree with me. But I know that there are people that don't have a wide vocabulary range and may not know what two or three of those words even mean. Save yourself some trouble and don't look through your thesaurus for every word you can think of that might have a fancier word for itself. Simple is good sometimes and can make the sentence flow better.
Writing is a pretty amazing thing. For people who want to write or would like to try it out, yes, it is a challenge. But as frustrating as it can be at times, especially when nothing is coming out the way you want it to, don't give up on it. Your ideas don't suck. Your writing isn't crap that your dog just left you as a gift. It just needs time, patience, and practice, and you have to be open for suggestion. I cannot stress that enough. Without having an open mind and open ears, you will not prosper. Constructive criticism will aid you in doing better and becoming more disciplined and civilized about it. But I will warn you that not all advice should be taken, so if someone says to throw your story away and re-write it using all of their ideas to make it sound better, don't sent it to the garbage can. Send their judgement to the landfill and go find someone else that will help you without murdering all of your ideas. There is a sort of chivalry that all writers must possess in order to become better at what they do, but there must also be that sense of knowing who you are. And above all, make sure that you have support from at least one person. As much as I'd love to say that I've always believed in my writing, I must admit that there was a time in which I thought my writing was crap, and that I'd never write another poem or story again. It took an entire classroom of students who were older than me to make me realize that the only person holding me back was myself, and without a cheerleader, your performance will suffer.
Writing isn't easy, but it's beautiful. That is, if you know how to do it correctly.
Stephanie Michelle Pabst
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