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ajqtrz
Chef - loquacious Old Dog
It may surprise many of you but I do consider concise writing more powerful than ramblings....and you probably do as well.
Here are some observations about writing I've suggested to many students over the years.
Language is not emotion even if it expresses emotion. It is a tool for communicating your thoughts and feelings about something and thus, as a tool, you must use it properly. This actually means using the proper, standard, and expected grammar of your audience. As Kenneth Burke, the Marxist critic wrote over 60 years ago, "you persuade a man in so far as you can talk his language by speech, gesture, tonality, order, image, attitude, idea, identifying your ways with his.” Rhetoric of Motive 1950
Now of course, if you aren't concerned with the audience you are addressing actually be persuaded, then there is no need to consider these things. But if you wish for them to move in some direction you need to display the things of which they value....their speech, gestures, tonalities, and so on. The more they think you are "one of us" the more influence you will have.
Given this it is doubtful you will achieve much persuasion if your writing is reactive. In other words, you feel something, you express it, you publish it and go about your business. Notice you didn't edit it. Editing is key because in editing you ask all the questions about what you are writing you probably didn't ask when you passionately jotted down your reactions in the first place. The thing about writing is that unlike speaking it does not often carry the context with it as much. In other words, while face to face with somebody and speaking about an important subject your visual cues provide a lot information about how to take your words but in writing you have to rely upon the words themselves to get across the emotional and social context. Much more difficult and not the same as expressing yourself face to face.
For this reason a bit of editing is important. First, ask yourself what you want the audience to think and feel after reading your words. Then ask if the words are going to do that. You may want your audience to think you are an intelligent person but if your grammar is poor, your words imply the audience is full of idiots, or you ramble, you are undermining the effect of which you seek.
Second, ask yourself if you are repetitive. The length isn't too important (though it is important to some), but the repetitiveness is. If you write five paragraphs all lamenting your bad luck, by the second or third paragraph your audience isn't going to be happy. Repetition does have it's place but usually across different messages over time. A single message is like a battle. You may win or you may lose, but the battle itself seldom wins or loses the war. Repetition should generally be saved for the next message.
Third, (and this is one of my many weaknesses) ask yourself if you really need to say that. Sometimes in trying to "flesh out" our position we spend a lot of time defending it from attacks we anticipate. Sometimes we know the subject so well we expect some line of reasoning or fact to be presented against our idea and, in anticipation of that rebuttal, attempt to rebut the rebuttal before the rebuttal is a rebuttal! And more often than not, nobody is thinking in that direction. Still, one should consider the major objections one might encounter and at least acknowledge them on occasion.
Finally, between the time you write that terse response and the time you press "publish" you should have a bit of time to calm down. The chemicals that are in your body when you are upset take between 5 and 20 minutes to dissipate. After that time you may not wish to publish at all and, upon re-reading what you wrote, may be quite happy you waited. "A soft answer turns away much wrath" as the Bible says, and it's much harder to have a soft answer when you are hopping mad! So cool you jets before you press "publish" and then re-read what you have written.
Just some thoughts I've passed on to my students over the years.
AJ
Here are some observations about writing I've suggested to many students over the years.
Language is not emotion even if it expresses emotion. It is a tool for communicating your thoughts and feelings about something and thus, as a tool, you must use it properly. This actually means using the proper, standard, and expected grammar of your audience. As Kenneth Burke, the Marxist critic wrote over 60 years ago, "you persuade a man in so far as you can talk his language by speech, gesture, tonality, order, image, attitude, idea, identifying your ways with his.” Rhetoric of Motive 1950
Now of course, if you aren't concerned with the audience you are addressing actually be persuaded, then there is no need to consider these things. But if you wish for them to move in some direction you need to display the things of which they value....their speech, gestures, tonalities, and so on. The more they think you are "one of us" the more influence you will have.
Given this it is doubtful you will achieve much persuasion if your writing is reactive. In other words, you feel something, you express it, you publish it and go about your business. Notice you didn't edit it. Editing is key because in editing you ask all the questions about what you are writing you probably didn't ask when you passionately jotted down your reactions in the first place. The thing about writing is that unlike speaking it does not often carry the context with it as much. In other words, while face to face with somebody and speaking about an important subject your visual cues provide a lot information about how to take your words but in writing you have to rely upon the words themselves to get across the emotional and social context. Much more difficult and not the same as expressing yourself face to face.
For this reason a bit of editing is important. First, ask yourself what you want the audience to think and feel after reading your words. Then ask if the words are going to do that. You may want your audience to think you are an intelligent person but if your grammar is poor, your words imply the audience is full of idiots, or you ramble, you are undermining the effect of which you seek.
Second, ask yourself if you are repetitive. The length isn't too important (though it is important to some), but the repetitiveness is. If you write five paragraphs all lamenting your bad luck, by the second or third paragraph your audience isn't going to be happy. Repetition does have it's place but usually across different messages over time. A single message is like a battle. You may win or you may lose, but the battle itself seldom wins or loses the war. Repetition should generally be saved for the next message.
Third, (and this is one of my many weaknesses) ask yourself if you really need to say that. Sometimes in trying to "flesh out" our position we spend a lot of time defending it from attacks we anticipate. Sometimes we know the subject so well we expect some line of reasoning or fact to be presented against our idea and, in anticipation of that rebuttal, attempt to rebut the rebuttal before the rebuttal is a rebuttal! And more often than not, nobody is thinking in that direction. Still, one should consider the major objections one might encounter and at least acknowledge them on occasion.
Finally, between the time you write that terse response and the time you press "publish" you should have a bit of time to calm down. The chemicals that are in your body when you are upset take between 5 and 20 minutes to dissipate. After that time you may not wish to publish at all and, upon re-reading what you wrote, may be quite happy you waited. "A soft answer turns away much wrath" as the Bible says, and it's much harder to have a soft answer when you are hopping mad! So cool you jets before you press "publish" and then re-read what you have written.
Just some thoughts I've passed on to my students over the years.
AJ
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