Triple Axle Truffles
I’m not an Olympic couch potato. But the other day, after grocery shopping, scrubbing the kitchen, and a five-mile walk, I preferred to watch the best the human spirit has to offer in spirited Olympic competitions to folding four loads of laundry.
My computer chirped. New Email and one of them was the uber-creative kind.
You know the kind I mean. They’re as effervescent as Alka-Seltzer. Cute. Each paragraph is written in a different color. Exclamation marks proliferate and capital letters emphasize special words and thoughts. Colorful butterflies twitter and smiley faces jump up and down. A dog blowing heart-shaped kisses trots across the page, and when he grins, his teeth sparkle while a bell sounds.
Such compositions can be entertaining… or not.
Many of them have a craft-like appearance. Scrapbooking comes to mind. But as “enhancements” to verbal skills, these communications rarely evoke the heart.
Join me for a truffle break while we look at why uber-creative writing fails to grab a reader. Dibs on the hazelnut praline.
You know, the kids gave me the truffles for Valentine’s Day. Half the little chocolates have been sampled or poked. Endearing, huh? And my kids are grown.
No matter. A truffle by any other name is still a truffle.
Just glancing through the uber-creative email made my eye twitch. But since figure skating was on TV, a sense of calm returned to my universe like lines of poetry. I settled onto the couch as performances transcended sport and became exquisite art. The audience rewarded near-flawless performances with collective sighs, tears and standing ovations.
I loved it. My friend would have LOVED!!! it.
Alas! Despite twittering butterflies and colorful words, her uber-creative email didn’t transcend sentence structure or grammar. Didn’t transcend function.
No unbridled emotions or standing ovation.
Here’s the problem:
We gravitate toward rhythm. Every beat contains either a sense of expectation for the next beat or fulfillment once we get that beat. We want ideas to flow smoothly when we listen or read. Doesn’t matter whether they are harsh concepts or sweet ones. We want them to glide, spring or tumble, one from the other, in a cogent, logical way.
Much like the execution of various patterns skated on ice create a pleasing whole.
Irregular rhythm PATTERNS in spoken or written prose, however, CREATE choppy thoughts lacking any sense OF rhythm.
You see? Good chance you had to read that sentence twice because the clarity of the message got muddied in an uneven rhythm. Not to mention, when you jar your reader or listener too often, especially on things that are not important, you dilute the effect of those words.
Do you need to type in red to make the meaning of the word “love” clear?
Do you need all caps to emphasize an idea? Okay, okay… I can compromise on this one. Sometimes, for an important revelation, a writer will put a single word in all caps. But not in every paragraph. Not on every page.
Do you need three exclamation marks for your reader to know you’re excited? Three question marks for your reader to know you’re uncertain?
Of course not. Trust your reader–even if it’s email. If you’re doing your job, the reader will “get” your thoughts. Be precise of thought so you can be precise of word. Know the purpose of any scene or paragraph you write. Don’t depend on verbal tricks to carry the day.
Rhythm and cadence are legitimate ways to help a writer “show” description, emotions, and suspense. But readers will get tired of irregular rhythms masking as literary elements. You’re better off using a variety of sentence constructions to project your ideas and keep the rhythm of language going than to do visual aids with font.
In suspense or action-based stories, you don’t have an explosion or gunshots or dead bodies in every paragraph for a reason. Overdoing anything becomes tiresome and ineffectual. Shock is best in small doses.
Would you sit down at lunch with friends and shout key words to make sure the others got your point? Pound the table? Jump up and down–in effect, becoming an exclamation point? Let’s hope not. You might find you were the only one still sitting at the table.
As a writer, work to show the thoughts of your characters through good sentence and paragraph planning. Everything you write should have a point. You add no new information with capitalized words in huge fonts or overdone punctuation.
Don’t even think about sending in a proposal to an editor with butterflies twittering over your signature.
The laundry still needs folding. But I’m not leaving the final round of women’s figure skating. Impeccable performances have grabbed my attention and brought me to tears. I’d give all the skaters gold medals if I could.
Yes, gold. Even gold! But not GOLD!!!
Have another truffle and let’s see who wins.