When a Writer's Muse Becomes a Bane
You know how the minute you tell a kid not to do something and they do it the minute you look the other way? I was never that kid. But apparently, I am that writer.
Every time I come across something about writing that I find I'm doing right and get smug about it - I end up making that very same mistake. My muse gets quite a kick out of it and doubles over laughing having the time of his life making an idiotic writer out of me.
If you're the lucky ones and have no clue what I'm talking about then let me give you a few examples.
I was going through George Orwell's 'Politics and English Language' and at the last page came across his five rules for better writing. The very first one states;
Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
At this point I was thinking, "Hey avoiding metaphors is going to be a breeze! I only use them to add some flavour to my writing anyway. It'll be fun to try and write with out them." So what happens the next time I let my fingers loose on the keyboard? I come up with a paragraph that is so filled with metaphors, I can't believe my eyes, brain or muse! Needless to say, the paragraph got deleted and since then I've been having trouble replacing metaphors.
Have you ever faced a problem with your writing? How did you get past it?
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December 21, 2008 at 7:13 AM
I never metaphor I didn't like. :)
His caution is against the cliche, I think. Lord, I'd be completely wordless if I couldn't use metaphors...oh ouchie, lol.
I do the same thing. I get told I do it wrong in terms of fiction, which makes me do it even worse, probably. When I think I'm doing something right, I seem to stop doing it all together.
Glad we're in this writing thing together!
December 21, 2008 at 12:50 PM
You have no idea how glad I am to know that its not just me!
It gets worse because suddenly I know what I'm doing wrong and yet I find myself unable to correct it.
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