Post #7 3/10/09 Moderation: Love it. Hate it. Gotta have it

3/10/09

The world’s complicated is it not? I sure think so and I’m sure at least 90% of the rest of the reasonable population would agree (I’m not quite sure what planet those other 10% have been living on though). Anyway, since the world is already twisted enough long before your milk even hits your cereal in the morning, I feel that adding to the world’s convolutedness is so incredibly unnecessary.

Take writing for example. Being a writer myself, I work hard to make my work the best it can be. I really do. That means endless hours of taking this out, putting that in, switching that around, and so on and so forth. I even have to go through this process for other people since I act as something like an editor to certain “clients” (The technical term is “beta”. I’m a beta-reader). As a writer, I know that I can’t always use sentences like, “Billy opened the door.” because 1) I’m not in third grade and 2) a sentence like that can’t always convey the emotion I may want my piece to convey. I also know that I can’t just start rambling on about the door knob on the door, the wood the door was made of, what Billy was wearing at the time, and the color of the ceiling. People don’t want to read half a page of text describing exactly what it was like to open that door. Heck, I don’t want to read that so I certainly wouldn’t make other people do it either. Moderation is the key.

It’s like drinking (not that I have, by the way). Sober, most people are boring like the sentence, “It was dark.” Great. It was dark. I don’t know where it was dark, I don’t know when it was dark, I don’t know what was dark but hey, it’s dark. After a drink or two, that’s when people start to get a little more interesting. They’re a little louder, start talking a little bit more, and they’re excited. “The first thing he sees when he opens his eyes is the jet black abyss of the night sky.” A little more interesting, wouldn’t you say? It’s descriptive (yes, it was dark), it’s coherent (you actually understand that he’s looking at the sky), and yet the description ends before you’ve reached 101 years old. And then comes the buzz. People are no longer coherent, they’re grating, and just don’t know when to stop. “His eyes flutter open and for a second, due to the momentary wave of confusion that washes over him in finding himself in this predicament, he doesn’t realize that he has since the empty voids of the backs of his eyelids and the evening sky are virtually indistinguishable. He blinks again then shudders, attempting to rid his body of a strange sensation that has come over him as a bone-chilling breeze blows past.” Really? Really? I mean, come on. Would it really have killed you to say something to the tune of, “It was dark and cold and you-saved-us-the-pain-of-reading-that-long-rambling-thing-by-writing-something-that’s-so-much-more-simpler.”? There’s even a term for this: prolixity or “speech or writing which uses an excess of words.” Now, I’m not saying that consuming alcohol is necessary to achieve that happy middle ground. That’s not my point at all. What I’m trying to get at is that it is possible to get your point across without going completely overboard with the word use. Because more often than not, your original point may become “lost in translation” as it were, muddled and weighed down by all the other words attached to that main idea. Unless you’re a pro at this so called “purple prose”. Then your writing is a little more discernible.

However, I admit that there are certain times when it is necessary to be a little more generous with your words like if you’re trying to make a point with your excessive word use or if the situation actually calls for some verbosity. But remember our little magic word? Moderation. That is what migraines are not made of.

So, just my humble and honest opinion, please keep this in mind the next time you start writing something. You’ll be doing the world (and yourself) a huge favor.