Saying What You Mean

Andy and I were talking about the art of writing this morning on WTRV. Since he and I talk for a living, we have a tendency to write to be heard rather than write to be read. Does that makes sense? With the advent of text messaging, our writing skills need to be taken a little more seriously. Often, what we write doesn't match what we mean. It takes a little more care, doesn't it? Some people don't say enough, and some say too much. 

Take a look at this example.  Since 1982, the English Department of San Jose State University has invited people to write terrible opening lines for novels, most of which are presumably never written. The contest is named after Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, who infamously began his 1830 novel “Paul Clifford” with the trite line “It was a dark and stormy night”. This year’s winner, composed by Sue Frodie: “Cheryl’s mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories.”