The Authors' Mom (be fair to baby)
by Brian Heir
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Rated "G" by the Author.
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Big words assembled randomly are no more evident of good writing than a crazy man with a tick is brilliant. On occasion though, eccentrics and wordy writers may be taken too seriously by the easily mystified, the unenlightened... or by Mom. |
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The Authors’ Mom
An examination of Writer Motivation, Reader Bias and Moms.
A hypothetical woman has two children, a son and a daughter.
Both children are would-be writers, in his and her own right.
One child lives trivially, concerned mainly with her vanity, boys and partying.
The other child assumes the persona of an intellectual, clamoring to be seen as the deep thinking, troubled genius.
Each of them writes a descriptive piece.
One child writes a simple yet beautifully crafted short story. Composed in an easy conversational narrative style, her piece contains almost no technical errors. It seems that she has taken care to be clearly understood, expressing herself through the imagery and color of her words. The straightforward approach effectively puts the reader into first person. She makes us see, think and feel.
The other child pens a film review. He assumes a rambling, verbose style. Large words and cliches abound, in an errant stab at sophistication. Scores of technical errors, including spelling and grammatical faux pas, derail any attempt at even basic plot synopsis or theme. Past and present tenses are jumbled, double negatives and superlatives confuse, burdening the reader to decipher a stream of consciousness tirade.
Strictly speaking, there is no content, nor is there conveyance of emotion or anything remotely useful or factual throughout the manic, flowery rant.
Which writer’s piece is the mother more impressed with, the son's self-indulgent babble, or the direct, unaffected and honest narrative composed by her daughter?
Shall praise rain down upon the good writer, or does Mom merely visit with accolades the child who is more needful of her approval?
Her answer is "My son is so deep & intense, he's way over my head."
Indeed, Mother... And over ours, too.
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| Reviewed by Liz Bon |
12/26/2011 |
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As a mom and a good proofreader and editor for creative projects, rambling without saying anything; using big words for the sake of using big words; while burdening the reader, leaves me with one comment: Over my head? No, I think the writer is drowning.
If in fact, this was any good, many requests for reviews would of followed, possibly an internship, leading to a job. A would-be writer is a writer from a very early age, if the case be so... then a critical eye would guide the child, a critique would hone their skills, and a possible rewrite over and over, as many great writers hold as a constant, would do, until the piece was perfect. Helping your children become good writers, does not come from a choice of who to praise, or who is more needful? Really? It's guiding them to read other works, reviews, newspapers, favorite authors and possibly mom and dad's written work, to help them fully understand that the written page comes in many forms. The badly written content falls away, and the more they read the better writers they will become. It's all about the read. |
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| Reviewed by Charlie |
4/13/2010 |
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| Well, I know very well what my mother would have done. That wise woman would have chuckled softly over her daughter's anecdotes, and looked thoughtfully over her son's prose, and would have worded her "praise" for his word jungle in such a way, that a whole three days later he'd hear the gentle reproach in her words, and heed them. --Charlie (a very thought-provoking write) |
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