Words

I think now is a good time to start thinking about words again, seeing as how I leave for my writing workshop at the end of the week. I was in a store the other week standing in line. I think it was Bath and Body Works. I remember thinking about how I might write about my life one day. Well, to clear that up, I WILL write about my life one day. The question is how I will do it. I realized the seemingly obvious: great writing isn't done by using vast amounts of detail, or carefully chosen words. Non-fiction isn't more fantastic if you can remember more. You can NEVER describe everything, anyway. A great writer will describe the small details that most can associate with a very particular emotion. Are you following me? It's not about how specific you can be, or how much you can think to write. A great writer will exclude the obvious, and only fill in between the lines. This is what it means to show, rather than tell. If you ask me, it's a trick of the mind. A great writer isn't just good at telling a story, he or she will need to be good at manipulating the reader--anticipating the reader's prediction, and making assumptions about the reader's intelligence or experience.

Maybe that's all obvious. It's interesting to me, nonetheless.

So much love,
Carrie Anne.