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"Writing for the Ear; Writing for the Eye"
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My writing has primarily been poetry and short allegorical novels. I love to paint verbal tapestries with rich symbollism and vivid descriptions. My editors have insisted that I cut back on adjectives. In spite of my stubborn disposition that came along with my Irish heritage and red hair, I took their advice for the betterment of my writing. I agree with Kathleen, it's all about the story.
Kathleen O Sindorf said...
I think it's all about the story -- whether you're writing radio or TV news, features, commercials, documentaries -- so I guess the same principles would apply to writing a novel. I love trying to capture for the electronic media the real story of someone's life and tell is concisely so that it connects with the viewers and that they can make a personal connection with the person in the story. And I just met a trial attorney last week whose passion (in her spare time) is tracking down the firsthand accounts of all kinds of different stories, and then interviewing the people involved to dig out the truth about their stories -- it's the same principle she uses in the courtroom applied to historical and biographical accounts to solve real mysteries -- fascinating! If I ever write a novel, I guess I'll come at it from the same perspective you do, John -- as a good reporter!
Hi John:
Thanks so much for inviting me to read this! I don't have any experience in writing for television broadcast, but I know you are right about keeping it simple because the broadcaster has to do speed reading when he/she is broadcasting what you have written.
I'm writing short stories, so what you see is what you get from my thoughts. Whenever the inspirations strikes, I might just sit down to write all night until it exhausts.
I don't think there's much difference in writing for TV broadcast and novel writing. I, myself, would enjoy a book that I don't have to hold a dictionary on the side to read it, if so, then it would take all the fun out of reading.
I think novel should be life-like, as we can see people everyday and they talk in a manner that everyone can understand, no hard words are necessary. It would prove nothing but just to boggle down the mind of the readers and become frustrated when the book is being read.
It's okay to use simple language that everyone can understand, as not everyone who reads a novel is a scholar. The story, the plots, and the description of the characters are of most important as you want to make the readers feel for the characters. Their thoughts are important as well in order to build up their characters. Say, for instance, A doesn't like B - so you have to create the parade of thoughts on why A doesn't like B. What does A thinks of B? The reason for A to dislike B can be the source to create both A and B's characters.
When the readers understand what causes the likes and the dislikes, so every action in the novel would be accounted for, and it would make the readers feel for the characters.
Also, try not to overly describe a scene, for it would become boring if the readers do not care for it and try to leave through those pages quickly.
I had once read a book which I now had forgotten the title, that the author used many many pages to describe the scenic surrounding in the beginning. I read and read, but the author was long-winded about the surrounding and had never got the to essence of the story, so I had lost my patience and interest and just threw the whole book away!!
Well...this is just my own opinion about writing novel, since I have not written one yet, and your experience is way beyond mine, so this is just my humble opinion on the difference or the similarities between writing for TV broadcasts and writing for novels.
Thank you for inviting me to read this post!! I hope you like my response.
Sandie Angel :o)
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