The Writer's Perspective by Maria Schneider

"Emoticons, the smiling, winking and frowning faces that inhabit the computer keyboard, have not only hung around long past their youth faddishness of the 1990s, but they have grown up. Twenty-five years after they were invented as a form of computer-geek shorthand, emoticons — an open-source form of pop art that has evolved into a quasi-accepted form of punctuation — are now ubiquitous.

No longer are they simply the province of the generation that has no memory of record albums, $25 jeans or a world without Nicole Richie. These Starburst-sweet hieroglyphs, arguably as dignified as dotting one’s I’s with kitten faces, have conquered new landscape in the lives of adults, as more of our daily communication shifts from the spoken word to text. Applied appropriately, users say, emoticons can no longer be dismissed as juvenile, because they offer a degree of insurance for a variety of adult social interactions, and help avoid serious miscommunications."

I have to admit to being a user/abuser and an enabler of emoticon usage. As the moderator of the Writer's Digest forum I've seen first-hand how a well-placed emoticon (on the forum, we call our multi-expression guy the little blue man), can:

• give levity to a sarcastic post ; )

• cheer up a person in low spirits : )

• share the pain in someone's rejection : (

Emoticons may have a place in forums and casual e-mails where discourse moves fast—so the intent of the writer can be quickly surmised. But will their widespread usage ultimately dumb down our language?

Are you an emoticon user/abuser? Should writers try to avoid them in their online writing?

Keep Writing,
Maria
P.S. Here's an exercise in writerly restraint: I challenge you to go emoticon-free for one full week. Try it and we'll follow up on this in next week's post.

blogs and online writing | language issues

Tuesday, July 31, 2007 4:07:11 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [9]

Thursday, July 26, 2007

A MATTER OF CLARITY
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Well, this has been a rollicking debate, with impassioned comments from both sides of the perfectionism issue. Also, please check out the great back-and-forth on this from our often-amusing, occasionally brilliant WD forumistas.

Please allow me to make a clarification on my post below, because I don’t want anyone saying the Writer’s Digest editor said it was okay to be sloppy. No. I’m referring to perfectionism specifically related to blogs and forum postings. If you’re submitting to an online publication, you always need to make your submission as perfect as it can be. We ran an article on this topic in WD “Cast a Wider Net.”

Here’s a quote from John Warner of McSweeney’s Internet Tendency:
I don't treat it [an online submission] any differently, though I suppose with online publications there's a greater demand to be timely or produce a piece in rapid response to events. I think sometimes writers mistake online publications for the minor leagues and don't always take sufficient time to polish the pieces they submit, which may be keeping them from having success.

And back on this issue of blog perfectionism, I’d like to throw out this stat provided by our New Media department:

• Resolution of a computer screen is 30X lower than resolution of a printed page.

I’m curious to know what percentage of bloggers take the time to print out their posts and proofread before uploading to the Web. My estimate: 0%. Since it’s a known fact that reading from a computer screen is more difficult, of course more errors are going to slip through—it’s just reality.

I’m going to devote more posts to online writing. It’s a medium evolving at the speed of light and writers need to set the pace.

Always aim for great writing. Always aim for clarity. And no IM-speak (unless you’re using it ironically). Keep the faith.

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing

Thursday, July 26, 2007 8:37:28 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [1]

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Letting Go of Perfectionism
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I was sitting in an online workshop last week. Dozens of other magazine and book editors were present as well as much of upper management, including our CEO. And he made a statement that I've been thinking about ever since: when it comes to the Internet, we need to let go of our perfectionism.

Now I've always believed that perfectionism is ultimately frustrating, since it can really cripple creativity. But as the editor of a print magazine, perfectionism is always the goal, even if it's never quite achieved. We hone and polish the magazine to a high shine, send it off to press with a wish and a prayer and cringe when the inevitable typo gets through. It's an editor's way to want the baby to be as perfect as possible. (By the way, there's a wonderful essay on this topic in Salon: Let Us Now Praise Editors.)

But the Internet is fast and loose and free. More casual language rules and no one seems to care if you get lax with your commas or use a dash where there should have been a semi-colon. Perfectionism slows you down. And I have to admit that this is really appealing to the writer in me.

So this is a dichotomy for the writer, isn't it? All writers are editors, in a sense. And letting go of perfectionism can be difficult.

Are you a perfectionist with your writing? And do you relax your standards when you write online?

As always, I'd love to hear from you, especially all of you busy writer/bloggers out there.

Yours in non-perfectionism.

Keep Writing,
Maria

blogs and online writing

Tuesday, July 24, 2007 4:34:40 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [9]

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

WORDS WE LOVE
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
Thanks to all who contributed to "Words We Hate" (see my previous post). Back on this language sensitivity issue, though, I've been feeling a bit like an uptight English teacher who's picking on the bad kids without acknowledging the good ones.

So in that spirit, I'd like to share with you "Words I Love" and I'd like you to share your darlings, too.

I love words that have double oos:
oomph (even though it's an onomatopoeia and I hate the word onomatopoeia)
smooth
spoof

I love French menu sounding words, and try to work them into my writing whenever I can get away with it, without sounding pretentious (which is a challenge):
frisson
flambe
beignet

I love almost all words that begin with a Z:
zip
zither
zest

I don't know why I like these words--maybe one of our resident linguists can tell us why.

So let's hear it: What words make your heart beat faster?

Keep Writing,
Maria

language issues

Tuesday, July 17, 2007 9:40:14 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [10]

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Is there a language sensitivity gene?
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I just read an interesting "On Language" column in the NYT this week written by Jaimie Epstein, "Sentence Sensibility"

This column (difficult to get through due to the satiric(?) use of Jane Austen-esque run-on sentences that could poke a person's eye out) brings up an important question for writers to obsess over: "Is there a language-sensitivity gene?"

From my own observations, I'd have to say, absolutely, yes. Case in point: This very weekend a song came on the car radio. It was a locally produced song, circa-1978 called, "Music, Sex and Cookies." I hadn't heard this particular song in at least two decades. Well, my passengers were stunned to witness that I knew the lyrics in their entirety.

This happens often and I never really think about it until I'm with non language sensitive types, and they infer how utterly freakish it is.

This, coupled with the fact that certain words will turn me so pale that our managing editor keeps smelling salts in her desk, leads me to believe there is, in fact, a language sensitivity gene.

To prove my point, I'm going to list one of my most hated words right here so you'll see for yourself:

penultima...

See, I just passed out.

Here's my question to you: Is there such a thing as a language sensitivity gene?
Also, what's your most hated word? Go ahead and share, it's good to let it out.

Keep Writing,
Maria
P.S. A loyal WD forum member (cooltouch) has correctly pointed out that I offer no sound scientific findings in my thesis here stated. I am ordering DNA testing of grandparents on both sides and will report back on the results.

language issues

Tuesday, July 10, 2007 4:15:35 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [13]

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

IS SUMMER-TIME DOWNTIME?
Posted by maria

Hi Writers,
I've been trying like crazy to come up with something newsy to share with you. But as I mentioned before, in summertime the wheels of publishing turn slowly since editors are frolicking in the Hamptons. And with the Fourth of July holiday, it's pretty quiet.

Of course, not much going on is a plus for writers: More time to write!

Thinking ahead, it is time to start getting your query letters and submissions ready for fall when publishing returns to full tilt. Here's a creative nonfiction contest Graywolf Press is putting on to whet your appetite:

Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize Submission Guidelines
Graywolf Press is pleased to announce the fourth annual Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize. A $12,000 advance and publication by Graywolf in 2009 will be awarded to the best previously unpublished, full-length work of literary nonfiction by a writer not yet established in the genre. Robert Polito will serve as the judge.

“This prize seeks to acknowledge – and honor – the great traditions of literary nonfiction, extending from Robert Burton and Thomas Browne in the seventeenth century through Defoe and Strachey and on to James Baldwin, Joan Didion, and Jamaica Kincaid in our own time,” says Robert Polito. In looking for the winner, Polito goes on to say, “We seek the boldest and most innovative books from emerging nonfiction writers, although we define ‘emerging’ (no more than two published books) as lightly and flexibly as we define literary nonfiction. Whether grounded in observation, autobiography, or research, much of the most beautiful, daring, and original writing over the past few decades can be categorized as nonfiction. Submissions to the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize might span memoir, biography, or history – but it’s essential that they be finished books (no miscellaneous essay collections, sample chapters, or proposals).”

Eligibility: Any writer who has not published more than two books of literary nonfiction (this excludes academic work and books in other genres) and resides in the United States is eligible. We welcome submissions from previously unpublished writers. Collections of miscellaneous essays/prose are not eligible for the prize. We will consider one submission per person. Manuscripts submitted for previous years' prizes will not be reconsidered unless resubmission has been specifically invited by Graywolf’s editors or the judge.

Timeline: Submissions must arrive in the Graywolf offices between September 1-30, 2007. Please note that this is not a postmark deadline. The winner will be announced in February 2008 and published in February 2009.

And here's my question for you: Does your writing slow down in the summer? Why or why not? Do tell.

Keep Writing,
Maria
P.S. Cincinnati editors do not frolic in the Hamptons. They frolic instead in the Ohio River, dodging river barges and debris floating downriver from Pittsburgh.

the writing life

Tuesday, July 03, 2007 3:24:39 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [8]

Google Sponsored Links

Free Updates

Navigation

Search

Archives

Blogroll