Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Words, words, words

I'm in the process of reading through the final edition of Turbulence. It won't be too much longer.

It's amazing how much a single word can make a difference. My intrepid editor caught and corrected some of those places where one word improved the sentence. I've found a few more.

I know of some people who agonize over every word every time they write something. That approach drives me crazy. In fact, if I had that attitude I would never finish anything. I plunge in, at the beginning. The important thing is to get the story down. Later I refine both the story and the way I tell it. And no matter how careful I am, there's always some work for the editor.

Words are powerful. I think we all learned that in elementary school, either as the bully or the one being bullied. A single word can elate or deflate.

And in writing a story, each word must carry the tale to its ending. But don't get too caught up. First concentrate on the story. Everything else can be smoothed out later.

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