Please, for the love of God, and I say this to everyone -- do not crosspost
when and if you decide to reply to this thread. Had I left the FFML out of
the equation it would be great to do so but now I'm afraid this could be
getting on some people's nerves, as I know Jeanne, in particular, has only
talked to me in passing and probably does not enjoy The Many Message
Treatment.
And poor Rob -- that guy has had some replies brought to his inbox THREE
times. All because I was trigger happy with the mouse when picking
recipients. Also, I don't feel comfortable with the fact that the Yogipigs
ML seems to have become my personal link to the FFML after I've been in the
organization for a total of about one whole week. That's imposing in a
harsh way.
*Gomengomengomengomengomengomengomengomengomengomengomengomengomengomengomen
*
Draxonx@bellsouth.net
*Who needs the Yogipigs people to be happy because the first chapter of
Sublimation is in need of prereader level C&C and I really don't want to
leave that to the public at large.*
Matt, I'll reply to your well thought out comments directly to the FFML and
only to the FFML.
-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Johnston [mailto:matt2518@gladstone.uoregon.edu]
Sent: Friday, January 22, 1999 4:50 PM
To: Drc@Egroups. Com
Cc: Studio Yogipigs Productions; Turtyl; MadamHydra@aol. com; Krobin729@aol.
com; Jeanne Hedge; Ffml@Fanfic. Com; Rob Barba
Subject: [drc] Re: Reading Clancy good for writing?
On Fri, 22 Jan 1999, Doug Murphy wrote:
Then I went back to Sublimation after 160 some odd pages of R.6 and
performed the obligatory grammar check. Word informed me that I had a
measly 5.3 grade level average reading level in the story, with a miniscule
2.3 sentences per paragraph rating.
Forget the RL. You and I both know that, when you have dialoge, the
reading level drops like a rock. Since I graduated from high school, I've
only written one thing that reflected my grade level in RL terms. It was
an essay that was close to incomprehensible due to a plethora of 3-dollar
words.
Word's RL formula is reall unreliable. It doesn't take into account the
following:
Subject matter.
Metaphor/allegory (Hemmingway has a RL of next to nil, but try to ask a
3rd grader to analyze Hills Like White Elephants)
And how many of us speak naturally at an RL of, say 7 or above? I sure
don't.
Without consciously being aware of any change in my writing style, I
proceeded to write what amounts to about half of a printed page, and once
again performed a grammar check, curious to see if I was doing any better
according to Word's sometimes sage advise.
Reading level, 5.7. Sentences per paragraph: 2.6
How much dialogue was there? Word takes the averages (senmtences per
paragraph, words per sentences, letters per word) and uses them to
quantify RL.
Just because the words are bigger doesn't mean they're better.
Have any of you ever been directly and immediately affected by exposure to
The Real Thing? If so, was it something that stuck with you or was it a
kind of come and fade thing? I'm curious to see what you all think of
this.
A .4 increase based on 1/16th of the story seems pretty dramatic to me.
My first story (before Music-Box Angel) was a conscious attempt at writing
in a 19th century "Translated Jules Verne" style. I'd start out doing
fine with it, but because it's not how I write naturally, my words would
shrink and my terminology would become more 20th century. I had to take
an insane number of breaks to read Verne in order to keep up the style.
But, you know what? It wasn't better writing.
My most natural writing came in episodes 2, 3 and 4 or Music-Box Angel,
which is some of the best stuff I've *ever* written. RL? A pithy 4.6. I
rarely do grammar checks anymore (I've memorized most of the rules, and,
after taking an advanced grammar course in college, realized that grammar
is almost never really "incorrect."), because the RL rating would get me
down.
Heck, my favorite book right now ("Bridge to Terabithia") is an
"adolescent fiction" novel. But it speaks with more power than any other
book in my collection. There's a reason it won the Newberry Medal.
I say, write what comes most naturally. The best times for me came when I
would be writing, and look up, and realize that 2 hours had passed, even
though it just felt like a moment. That's when my writing is at its best,
and I bet a lot of writers would agree with me.
Back to writing, lest this "gift" wear off :P
As with all gifts, beware the curse behind.
I'm gonna show my age here... When I turned 21, I realized that, all
through high school, I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing. My
writing was pitiful, because I was trying so hard to sound mature. But,
after a small quest to relive a bit of my literary youth (go into a tiny,
hole-in-the-wall bookstore and ask for some Newberry Winners. It'll make
you weep for the past. ^_^), I realized that complexity in language is
mutually exclusive to quality in prose. That's why Moonlight Sonata can
affect us more than Flight of the Bumblebee. Both affect us, but it's
more pronounced and profound with Moonlioght Sonata.
I'm rambling, and probably sounding like I'm pulling rank or the Age
Card(tm) or something equally silly. In truth, I'm just a writer who
wants to win the Newberry, and thinks that quality over quantity is the
way to go for writers.
--Matt (Whatever comes naturally)
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"It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both
incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by
twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper." -- Rod Serling
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