“In the beginning was the word.” So begins the Gospel of John. Setting aside theological implications, this is where writing begins as well – with words. SNOWBIRDS, a recent screenplay I wrote, has 18,864 words. Each of those 18,864 words represents a conscious choice on my part to best reflect on the page the movie I see in my mind. Which means that those 18,864 words are my allies, my troops, my warriors going to battle on my behalf to win the war of imagination with anybody who will read my script.
“Putting one right word after another” – that is so right. When you bust it all down, writing is about choosing words. A writer can choose them well, or not. What’s the best way to make sure you make the right choices? Another writing mantra:
· Know their definitions. I can’t tell you how often I read scripts in which a writer uses the wrong word, obviously because they don’t know the meaning. Words are messengers, they transmit meanings. I keep a dictionary on my desk, exactly two inches from my mouse pad, so my right hand can snare it just like that.
· Know their synonyms. The average person uses 2,000 different words in the course of a week’s worth of conversation. The Oxford English Dictionary contains 290,000 entries with some 615,000 different word forms. Wow! Why write, “He looks at her,” when you can substitute ogles, eyeballs, gapes, peeps, or rubbernecks? That’s why I keep a thesaurus beside my dictionary on my desk.
· Know their beauty. You can get definitions and synonyms, but you also need to develop your aesthetic sensibilities. My advice: Revel daily in the world of word-imagination. Read screenplays, short stories, novels, poetry. A great web resource is The Writer's Almanac. It is produced by Minnesota Public Radio and hosted by Garrison Keillor. Every day on The Writer's Almanac, Garrison honors and discusses writers, past and present, then reads a poem. It is a wonderful way to enliven your writerly mind.
Be nice to them -- and they will be nice to you.
Posts
2 comments:
And more than words, their order, their cumulative order matters most of all. It's not just a noun shoved against a verb that collides against a direct object that matters to a good sentence. It's the better noun, the better verb, the more precise object. Remember, the Gospel says in the beginning was the Word, after that comes the whole damn script --novel, poem, choose your cross.
I liked how you began this post, "In the beginning was the Word, ..." (now to complete the passage) "... and Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in beginning with God." John 1:1-2
Dedication to craft is obviously what you're talking about here, but I really like where you started out, as it touches on a PARAMOUNT point: the inspiration for what you do. Why not offer up the words you write to God, and let Him in on the process? Let Him refine your craft as He so sees. A few posts back, Scott, you talked about writting magic. Where do you think that comes from? God is the one who gives people true gifts, including words. I say let Him in on the process. Afterall, He's already written the most successful book, most read book, of all time (the Bible).
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
Post a Comment