When I started this blogging thing back in 2010, I really had no idea what I was doing; layout, style, editing, posting, and especially writing, were nothing more than an unformed desire. Of course, I've written quite a bit, but mostly unfinished horror stories and other such nonsense. There was nobody to tell me what to do, and honestly, there still isn't; it's a total work in progress.
I've found that over this time that there's an external me. This other me sees what I'm doing, watches what others are doing, comes up with what I'm doing wrong (supposedly), and what I'm doing right. Mostly I don't listen. Or really, I fail to hear, until, ten posts down the road, I kick myself, realising that my inner teacher had already said that stuff. I should have been taking notes. Well, I did start taking notes. It has helped me a lot; I have more form in my writing, my writing is clearer 'visually', I sound less stupid and more 'emotive' than I have been in the past. It's a good thing. I really have a desire to be good at this thing, and by extension, at writing all that fiction that I've been dreading finishing all these years.
I thought I'd share some of my notes that I've taken down over time, so maybe someone could benefit from them, or at worst, see exactly what not to do to avoid being anything like me! Hahaha...yeah. I'll just bore whoever bothers to read these with one item at a time, so please comment if you have any ideas to share.
#1: Simple, clear, simpler, & clearer. I've noticed, over the years, that I and my fellow bloggers (mostly the "I" in the equation), try to get fancy with things. It's a really big temptation. In the film crowd we read a lot of pro reviews, by guys like Roger Ebert, or Leonard Maltin (etc.), and it's SO tempting to try to 'cop' their voices. I see it all the time really (especially in the dreaded comments section on DVD releases on Amazon.com). They usually read like this:
I've found that over this time that there's an external me. This other me sees what I'm doing, watches what others are doing, comes up with what I'm doing wrong (supposedly), and what I'm doing right. Mostly I don't listen. Or really, I fail to hear, until, ten posts down the road, I kick myself, realising that my inner teacher had already said that stuff. I should have been taking notes. Well, I did start taking notes. It has helped me a lot; I have more form in my writing, my writing is clearer 'visually', I sound less stupid and more 'emotive' than I have been in the past. It's a good thing. I really have a desire to be good at this thing, and by extension, at writing all that fiction that I've been dreading finishing all these years.
I thought I'd share some of my notes that I've taken down over time, so maybe someone could benefit from them, or at worst, see exactly what not to do to avoid being anything like me! Hahaha...yeah. I'll just bore whoever bothers to read these with one item at a time, so please comment if you have any ideas to share.
#1: Simple, clear, simpler, & clearer. I've noticed, over the years, that I and my fellow bloggers (mostly the "I" in the equation), try to get fancy with things. It's a really big temptation. In the film crowd we read a lot of pro reviews, by guys like Roger Ebert, or Leonard Maltin (etc.), and it's SO tempting to try to 'cop' their voices. I see it all the time really (especially in the dreaded comments section on DVD releases on Amazon.com). They usually read like this:
| "While maintaining its status as journeyman director Oliver Hunt's flagship series, the ubiquitous excesses and shallow conceits contained within each entry are overwhelming in the extreme." |
Umm...yeah, guy...there's some real fancy talk coming up from your mom's basement right now. I'm sure that, if that guy was still alive, he'd be quaking in his knee-high director's boots. :) Jeepers. I call these folks "wind-up toys", because they have a canned approach to movie writing that they think makes them sound authoritative...but they couldn't be more wrong. I really dread reading those. Sometimes one has to when looking online for DVDs, because you hope there's a bit of data regarding disc content or quality when you're on the go. Happily, for the vast majority of film bloggers, this isn't anywhere near the case. Most are just people that love classic film and want to eloquently jabber to fellow eloquent jabberers. This is what I enjoy about the scene. I have a paranoid fear though, that someday I'll read my stuff and see that I've become exactly what I despise, and that my own voice is chained-up in the reviewer-speak prison. I'm always on the lookout for that stuff in my writing. To that end, I have a list of what I call "wanna-be words" that I avoid like the back end of a skunk. Here are just few of them:
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They're fine words. Good words. Very interesting words, yes. But, in the role of an amateur flogger (film + blogger...that's what I call myself; I flog the English language as I write film posts, hehehe), they come off as pretentious. Especially when more than one is used in a review. Lordy. Take, for example, the perfectly fine English word 'apropos'. Yes, it originated in French, but so did the words beef, and pork, and jail...it's right in there in our Engrish dictionary. It has to be used properly for it to be effective. The unfortunate thing is, it's what is commonly called a "50 cent" word; people use it because they think it makes them sound fancy, or perhaps in extreme cases, 'real smart', just like them there bona-fide review fellers.
It's a real pitfall for the earnest scribbler. The problem is that 90% of the people that use it don't know how to use it correctly, and what's more, they are unaware of that fact. Here's the problem: a thing that I've learned since joining the 'floggerverse' is that film bloggers are generally pretty smart folk. When reading a film post, a great many are going to know that someone is using a word incorrectly, or out of context, etc. I see it all the time. Why take the risk? Simple, clear, simpler & clearer. Honestly, when I look back at some of what I've written sometimes, I ask myself, "hey, buddy...does that sound like you?". Most of the time it doesn't.
What I want the most from writing before I die is to be able to write in my own voice. I've never once said "titular", or "eponymous", or "trope" out loud...in spite of knowing what they mean. :)
Thanks for reading, if indeed, heh, anyone has. Please share ideas or disagree if so inclined.
It's a real pitfall for the earnest scribbler. The problem is that 90% of the people that use it don't know how to use it correctly, and what's more, they are unaware of that fact. Here's the problem: a thing that I've learned since joining the 'floggerverse' is that film bloggers are generally pretty smart folk. When reading a film post, a great many are going to know that someone is using a word incorrectly, or out of context, etc. I see it all the time. Why take the risk? Simple, clear, simpler & clearer. Honestly, when I look back at some of what I've written sometimes, I ask myself, "hey, buddy...does that sound like you?". Most of the time it doesn't.
What I want the most from writing before I die is to be able to write in my own voice. I've never once said "titular", or "eponymous", or "trope" out loud...in spite of knowing what they mean. :)
Thanks for reading, if indeed, heh, anyone has. Please share ideas or disagree if so inclined.
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