In Your Own Words
More Tips For New Writers (Part I)
Explain in your own words
Familiar phrase? Yes, we have all heard it many times in many
different situations. This little phrase is used to convey
subtly different meanings depending upon the circumstances in
which it is used. At school, the teacher means “Don’t just copy
chunks out of a book; show me you can write an essay”. In an
examination the words mean “Prove that you understand the
question and know the answer”. On an insurance claim form it
means “Tell us what happened from your point of view”. From a
Judge it means “Tell the truth without embellishment”.
What do all these people have in common? They want to hear what
you know, what you think about things. They don’t want something
you have copied from somebody else, they don’t want regurgitated
chunks of something learned by rote, they don’t want to hear
somebody else’s words repeated, they don’t want to hear excuses.
They want to hear what you have to say. They want honesty.
Honesty is the best policy
If you want to write, you must learn to write honestly. By this
I do not mean that it is essential for you to always tell the
unvarnished truth (this article is not about personal
development: it is about writing and moral debate has no place
here). I mean use your own words, your own style, your own
“voice”. Do not try to imitate a writer you admire. Imitation is
said to be the sincerest form of flattery. That may be true
enough but most imitations turn out to be poor copies of the
original item. Make your writing the real deal; don’t give
people the chance to say: “He’s that guy who tries to write like
Stephen King”. Believe me, they won’t mean it as a compliment;
what they are really saying is: “He’s that guy who tries to
write like Stephen King but fails and (snigger, snigger) he
doesn’t realise it”. Being honest has the undoubted advantage
that it saves you having to remember what lies you told
previously. It should also make you feel good and that’s a bonus.
There have, of course, been instances where an unknown artist
has created a painting in the style of a master and the work had
been painted so skilfully that experts declared it to be
authentic. Remember, though, the forger had skill of his own in
the first place. Whether you are forging a masterpiece or a bank
note, you need to possess skill as well as the appropriate
tools. If you are new to writing, it is highly unlikely that you
will be able to manage a convincing imitation of a famous
author’s style. Indeed, you will probably find it difficult to
even begin to analyse what makes a particular author’s writing
uniquely personal. Writing “in the style of” can be a valuable
exercise for trainee writers but it should only ever be an
exercise, not a substitute for authenticity. If you have what it
takes to be a writer, get out there, write and make sure your
fingerprints are all over your work declaring it to be yours and
yours alone.
Voice recognition
No, not the computer software type: the type that happens when
Joe `phones a friend. Joe says: “Hello.” and the friend
instantly says “Hi, Joe.” If you write as yourself, your loyal
readers will reach the stage where they recognise your work from
reading a fragment without needing any clue from a by-line.
If you have something interesting to say, there is no need to
put on a phoney voice (unless your intention is to make your
audience laugh). You will probably not get to be President if
you make all your speeches in the style of Homer Simpson. If you
decide to put your message in writing, you should write it in
your own words and in your own way. When you write, you have
your own voice and you should not try to disguise it. Allow your
audience to hear your voice and become familiar with it. Of
course not everybody will like your voice one hundred percent
all of the time: there is not one thing in this world which is
liked by everybody always.
None of us is perfect
I don’t mean this in terms of never making a mistake: I just
mean that, as human beings we all have imperfections. Keats says
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty”. I heartily concur but
imperfections are, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder; a
matter of personal taste. What is a blemish to you might be an
endearing feature to me. There are also degrees of imperfection.
A minor imperfection in an otherwise excellent work may be
overlooked. A similar imperfection in bad piece of work might be
the final straw which prompts the reader to throw the book
across the room and vow never to read anything else by that
author.
Whilst reading works of horror fiction by some of my favourite
fiction writers, I have found the repeated use of certain words
irritating; for some reason I dislike the use of “umbra” and
“orb” in place of shadow and eyeball. (The subject matter of
these books is of necessity dark and grisly things frequently
happen to eyes.) As the remainder of the work is perfection (in
my orbs, anyway) I am able to forgive this minor irritation and
still eagerly anticipate each new publication by these authors.
Other readers might be impressed by the use of these alternative
nouns or not even notice them. Whatever your imperfection might
be, never ever compound it with sloppiness. You cannot help
being less than perfect, that is part of being human; there is
no excuse for offering sloppy workmanship.
