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Writing Essay One: The Way it Flows

There’s no shortage of advice out there on writing. As a budding author with a strong desire to perfect the craft, I’ve read tons of it. People, the majority of whom more successful than I’ll ever be, dole out tips left and right like promo fliers at a comic book convention.

I’ve even paid for such advice. That is to say, I’ve bought and read books specifically on the subject of writing. The only one that I count as money well spent is The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. That’s not terribly surprising given…

The thing I find most amusing about these pearls of wisdom is the recommendation that I avoid certain things. Stephen King tells me I should avoid using adjectives altogether.

Really?

No wonder his writing is drier than L.A. in August.

Here’s the thing…

What I’ve learned after nearly a million words and more mistakes than I care own, is pretty simple. If your work reads well—and that’s not to say the silent way, cloistered in your bedroom or office, on the twelfth edit pass, skimming and barely understanding a single word…

What I mean is that it reads well aloud. If it flows off the tongue well, it’ll be good. Trust me.

I read to myself all the time. I’m sure my roommate thinks I’m crazy, but I as I write this, I’m speaking the words aloud. I’ll admit it’s a quirky habit.

But it also works.

And the reason is rather simple. When you’re writing fiction, what you’re actually doing is mimicking thought processes and speech. It has to flow naturally to sound correct.

As you're reading, if a words trips you, replace it. And if something sounds flat…

You get the idea.

The smoother it flows, the better it is. Period.

You see, I believe that what they have in mind when they tell me not to do something is that I not do it too much. It’s that classic line about moderation retooled and plated up again. Anything done to excess is fundamentally bad…or boring. If you begin each sentence in a piece with the word ‘she’ or ‘I’ or ‘you,’ depending on your point of view, it’ll be bad.

I have rule of threes for this. No more than three sentences in a row should begin with the same word unless you’re trying to achieve an effect. Sometimes I cheat and add a clause to break this up. But mostly, the trick is finding different ways to say what you wish to communicate. Ways that flow off the tongue well. If you can manage this, you’ll be golden.

But then, this is nothing new. They tell me to avoid repeating words. That’s a common piece of advice. And that’s all fine and dandy, but as with adjectives, sometimes it’s good to repeat a word. It adds to the organic nature of the piece.

Face it, if you’re going to emulate a human being well, there will be repeated words. The human mind tends to grab onto things and hold. We repeat the same terms in typical communication. If we were all walking thesauruses set to randomly find synonyms, the tendency wouldn’t exist at all. And therefore would never be mentioned as something to watch out for by these would-be advisors.

I had a friend (feel free to be shocked) who used to preach control to me. This was simple, yet fabulous advice. If you do repeat words, do it intentionally. Know that you’re doing it. And do it for effect. It’s that easy.

Nothing happened. Nothing continued to happen. More Nothing. The Return of Nothing. Son of Nothing. Nothing Rides Again. Nothing and Abbott and Costello meet the Wolfman...

Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys

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