Surviving Creativity

Posted on August 16, 2023 by knlistman

When I was much younger I studied Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Despite his theory that fulfillment of physical and psychological needs leads to self-actualization and creativity, I found many creative people driven by something else–something that often causes them to ignore basic needs.

About twelve years ago I first caught sight of the “Artist’s Hierarchy of Needs,” an upside down version of Maslow’s triangle. It balances on the tiny point of self-actualization. This hierarchy applies to more than visual arts and includes writers and others who often find creating more important than eating or sleeping. So it’s time to give others their fair shake and look at some competing ideas about what constitutes creativity.

Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychotherapy, saw creativity as a socially acceptable defense mechanism for expressing socially unacceptable urges. In other words being creative was the way to sublimate that pesky sex drive. He felt the creative process was driven by the unhappy suffering of unfulfilled fantasies. For him being creative was akin to being neurotic.[1]

Sarnoff Mednick is most famous for his research that associates psychosocial disorders–such as acting like a criminal–with genes that you inherit from your parents. He also came up with the associative theory of creativity, the idea that a person comes up with original ideas as a response to stimulus–sort of like drooling when you smell fresh hot cinnamon rolls. When a stimulus hits the senses, a creative individual’s response would be to think of an extremely remote and barely related idea. Mednick created a test using words based on the theory that the more remote the test taker’s response was from the original word, the more creative that person was. So an extremely creative response could be nonsensical. [2]

Carl Rogers saw creativity in a similar light to Abraham Maslow. He thought creativity was the result of healthy psychological growth, and the highest form of self-actualization. He saw creative people as being wonderfully balanced, open to new experiences, with internally based control.[3] I’m sure most creative people would like to view themselves this way. However, many are honest and admit to deep insecurities. Of course, most of us have run into a few of the difficult, smug, prima donna types.

When people are working on their latest novel they become so fulfilled that they forget about other things–like food and sleep.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi does not see creativity as strictly residing within a person, rather it is an interaction between a person and society. Social systems and cultures determine what is original idea and what is not. To be considered a creative author, an individual must strike a balance between coming up with a novel idea and relating it to accepted conventions. Otherwise this work would be viewed as either boring or gibberish. He also describe the idea of flow, an intensified response to a creative urge that causes artists to ignore time. When people are working on their latest novel they become so fulfilled that they forget about other things–like food and sleep.[4] So, creativity can be dangerous to your health.

Finally, we come full circle to Albert Rothenburg who proposes that creative people use a certain kind of thinking that allows them to consider two opposite concepts at the same time–like two objects occupying the same space resulting in something new. His research shows that creative thought processes are not logical and actually resembled those of the mentally ill. However, creative people are actually aware that they are indulging in ‘insane’ thinking while they are doing this–at least most of the time.[5]

Photo of mural in Plaza District, Oklahoma City, OK by K.N. Listman

[1] Rothenburg, A. &  Hausman. C., (1976). The creativity question.  Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
[2] Mednick. S. (1962) The associative basis of the creative process. Psychological Review. 69, 220-232.
[3] Rogers, C. (1962). Toward a theory of creativity. In Parnes, S. Harding, H. (Eds.) A source book for creative thinking. New York: Scribners.
[4] Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1988). Society, culture, and person: A systems view of creativity. In Sternberg, R. (Ed.), The nature of creativity. New York: Cambridge University Press.
[5] Rothenburg, A. &  Hausman. C., (1976). The creativity question.  Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
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How Monumental Should Fantasy Heroes Be?

Posted on August 10, 2023 by knlistman

Fantasy provides a kind of escapism for young adults (and even some older adults). Characters come from a less technological era, in which a teenager could be considered an adult capable of making all their own decisions. The popular fantasy trend of superheroes harkens back to antiquity with characters such as Thor and Odin, heroes from Norse mythology. Other heroes include Greek deities, and the legendary Black Panther of Wakanda. However, these fantasy-based stories sometimes suffer from having more interesting villains than protagonists. 

For example, consider people’s preferences in the competition between Thor and his adopted brother, Loki. This son of ice giants and the god of mischief originated from another place and another race and could not fit in. Thor had the greater strength, and sometimes a greater tendency to behave like a spoiled brat. However, when Thor matured, he became less interesting while Loki still intrigued audiences. This led to Loki, who was initially a villain, becoming the main character in a newly spawned television series. 

This problem has occurred before. Clark Kent in the 1980’s Superman movies was fearless except in matters concerning Lois Lane. But, that seemed like an unnecessary worry. She never failed to be impressed by his ability to fly through the clouds and take bullets for her without getting injured. However, many members of the audience preferred the antics of Lex Luthor, a man not as handsome as Superman. His intelligence and penchant for scheming often failed him. But, he was more a complex and more relatable character. It seems hard to design superheroes without making them boringly perfect.

The mark of an excellent writer is being able to produce villains who see themselves as right, and yet the audience sees through this façade.

The mark of an excellent writer is being able to produce villains who see themselves as right, and yet the audience sees through this façade, realizing their evil intentions. Sometimes this is accomplished by having the villain be insane. But, these authors often misunderstand mental illness. The relatable villain is more likely to be a normal person who has decided on a course of action that is cruel to others for an ultimate cause that he rationalizes as good. It helps to avoid creating a totally vicious villain. If the author expects a reader to be engrossed by impending danger and wondering who will survive, both sides need some redeeming qualities.

In real life, people are frequently eager to point out their own faults when they see them in others. They view their own determination as persistence while the other person’s similar attitude is just plain stubbornness. In well written fiction, the reader can also detect the similarity between a person’s accusation against others and their own actions. A wise person once pointed out that real people, who refuse to acknowledge their own shortcomings, often become the cruelest towards people with these same faults. This wisdom can be used in real life, but can also help when creating an engrossing hero and villain.

Photo of Walhalla Monument, Germany by K.N. Listman

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Everyday Fantasies

Posted on August 3, 2023 by knlistman

Years ago when I coached teams of graded school-aged children for Odyssey of the Mind, I learned about imagination in the psyche of the preadolescent child. Some children wanted to be conformists and preferred not to suggest ideas that were not familiar. It was more important that their idea was acceptable to the majority of their peers. Other children would come up with “crazy” ideas. They would have to sort through all the bizarre, unworkable variations to find some that would work. 

Writing with a dose of fantasy woven into a familiar plot is closer to the tastes of the conformists. They like reading the adventures in unreality because this fits into their view of what a story should be. Students who are very conscious of what their peers think, prefer the same thing. In movies this is currently superheroes, and in books this is fantasy, tales of the wizards and magical creatures. They have a feel of familiarity, the echo of  frequently repeated fairy tales. The villain is not even human most of the time. So, there is no need to fear that this story will reflect some tragedy that may occur to them in real life.

Insert a bit of magic into this real world setting and viola, the author has eliminated the need for most of the boring worldbuilding.

The magic school setting is an example of a young adult (YA) fantasy theme that keeps appearing. It does not require a terribly sophisticated audience and uses the real world situation of a group of students that attend a boarding school together (at least the real world situation for upper class youth). Insert a bit of magic into this real world setting and voila, the author has eliminated the need for most of the boring worldbuilding. The storytelling can begin almost instantly. If the plot begins to drag, just inject a new magical peril, like a troll or a dragon from a fairytale.

Fantasy novels still require creativity to write, but many authors try not to vary too far from proven plots and currently acceptable tropes. In the past fantasy was often viewed as a lesser genre by adults. But, those readers who grew up at the same time as me saw fantasy break into the realm of respectable literature. Now, it is encroaching on the fewer and fewer realistic works appearing for that demographic. When I recently attended a seminar for authors of (YA) books, the speakers were all writing fantasy works. Nobody seemed to be creating realistic novels for this age group. So, there should be room for my work about the struggles and trials of ordinary teenagers, right? Probably not.

Illustration by www.pikist.com

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Predicting the Future of AI

Posted on July 27, 2023 by knlistman

In science fiction, predictions of a future that did not occur were made by authors such as Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C Clark, and Isaac Asimov. No one has traveled to the center of the earth, and considering the heat and pressure that exist there, no one probably ever will. Neither have we seen advancements to colonizing Mars or creating androids indistinguishable from humans. Their imaginative fiction is still interesting to read, even if it did not follow the path of our own development.

Hardcore science fiction readers may mourn the loss of science fiction writers who keen insights into possible futures. Ray Bradbury with his prescience about technology predicted wall size TV’s in a kind of theater room and “clam shells” that a people stuck in their ears to replace the world’s noise with music in Fahrenheit 451. However, the past writers were taking pot shots when guessing about power of new technology such as computers.

We have yet to see humans on another planet or a computer with truly independent thought processes, even though Arthur C. Clarke wrote stories making these events seem plausible. Tales of space travel to distant solar systems (or even galaxies) are entertaining. However, the amount of time it takes for light from these places to grace our skies is mind boggling. Would humans ever be able to reach them? Therefore, travel in outer space is being usurped by journeys into inner space. The new frontiers in science-fiction literature are virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI).

Travel in outer space is being usurped by journeys into inner space.

The VR and AI that exist today are used in very prosaic ways, such as recalling steps for a mechanic, teaching your phone to recognize your voice or completing the drudgery of finding research. These are not exactly thrilling plot lines. Jaron Lanier, one of the founders of virtual reality, argues that computers will never become masters of matter and life. As humans we don’t have the intelligence to produce ones that run programs that are not cumbersome and error-prone, because we are error-prone. Science fiction authors are again taking potshots at predicting the future by creating virtual reality and artificial intelligence that is sophisticated beyond human cunning.

The real threat, according to Jaron Lanier, is the belief that our collective wisdom can spawn ideas superior to that of a few individual humans. The “hive mind” relieves individuals of responsibility for actions. A pack of anonymous people online can turn into a vicious mob. So, if an author is looking for a new twist on the use of artificial intelligence in fiction, one only has to look as far as the errors made by masses in the name of science in the past. It may not be the dangerous self-growth of artificial intelligence that drives the plot towards the crises, but how humans use it in their very fallible and irresponsible ways.

Photo by K.N. Listman

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Searching for a Quest

Posted on July 21, 2023 by knlistman

I first encountered Lord of the Rings while I was in high school and J.R.R. Tolkien was still alive. Like most people in the United States I had never heard of him before. However, my friends were enthused about a trio of dog eared paperback books they passed around. It was a good way to keep oneself occupied during the less interesting classes. I couldn’t get the first book from anyone who had the set, so I started with the second, and then finished the third book. I was so enamored with this tale, I went back and read the first book. It still thrilled me, even though I knew how it would end. I wouldn’t get hold of a copy of The Hobbit until much later.

Much, much later a friend of mine who had a desk cluttered with Star Wars memorabilia, and raved about each movie, admitted that she never finished Lord of the Rings because she just couldn’t get into it.  Obviously, you can’t write the perfect quest for all people, because their expectations differ. But most quests, even those not in fantasy or science fiction, share similarities. First is that the trip is not aimless, but has a goal, whether it is reached or not. In some twists, the treasure that the adventurers seek is not the one they find. Some things are more valuable than wealth.

In some twists, the treasure that the adventurers seek is not the one they find.

The following are some standard quest goals:

  • A fabled treasure or magic object that imbues the owner with tremendous power (probably the most common)
  •  A rare substance which can stop a plague or prevent another kind of disaster (also common)
  • A special person that the main character needs to gain power, prevent a pending disaster or stop the homeland from dying. (a combination of the those just mentioned)
  • A new homeland because the old one is dying or overrun by a hoard. This is the typical post apocalyptic journey (also common).

Less frequently found is the protagonist who seeks a group of people to give who need his knowledge and power to prevent some of the previously mentioned disasters. So the idea of taking an item to its destruction, as in Lord of the Rings, or finding an item that must be destroyed is not used as often either–at least before Tolkien’s time. 

No matter what quest is chosen, the writer usually indicates the value of the quest before the characters start trekking for weeks on end. Which brings us to the next problem. What kind of trials and obstacles will your characters face? This requires a variety and not just repeated battles. The danger can come from surviving dangerous terrain, severe weather, wild animals, or the deceit of friends as well.

How do you find inspiration for all of these ideas? Borrow events, from the present, from past history and from mythology. Myths are not always restricted to ancient civilizations. People secretly have a grand desire to be strong enough to be in charge of their destiny like an ancient hero or a future scientific whiz. People continue to be  enthralled by anything that promises great fame, fortune and power. But, what if all those wonderful things people wanted were destroying humanity? Then, the brave hero must go on a quest into a new world to find a solution to that problem.

You would have another quest to write.

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Defining Sci-Fi

Posted on July 14, 2023 by knlistman

In Perelandra, an earth man is sent to Venus  on a mission from God to counsel the ‘Eve’ of that planet so she does not fall prey to the wiles of Satan’s agent. I, Robot is a collection of short stories that trace the development of robots until they take over running the world while humans remain blissfully ignorant of this fact.  What does a work like Perelandra by C.S. Lewis have in common with Isaac Asimov’s, I, Robot?  Both are considered science fiction. What defines this seemingly disparate genre and also separates it from its twin, fantasy? Let’s look at some classics to determine this. 

Time:  Most stories taking place in the future are considered science fiction.  This allows authors to play with new technology (like cloning) or explore the possible outcomes of today’s issues (like global warming). Future societies do not have to progress but can return to a more primitive state that resembles the medieval world of fantasy. Any magic is usually chalked up to the natural abilities, such as harnessing the force of the universe in the Star Wars series. If the inhabitants of an imaginary place that exists outside of our time uses magic more than machines, that denotes a fantasy, such as Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea series.

Travel: Many of the early sci-fi novels dealt with travel to unimaginable places, such as the moon, which we have reached but not colonized. However, there is still a wealth of settings not yet visited by humans except in fiction including the center of the earth or the surface of other planets. Jules Verne said the goal of his work was to describe the world through a series of extraordinary voyages. He is definitely a science fiction author. Journeys that occur through time are a hallmark of this genre, so works may be set not only in the future but also in the distant past. 

Journeys that occur through time are a hallmark of this genre, so works may be set not only in the future but also in the distant past. 

Technology: Travel to distant times and solar systems requires technology that does not yet exist. Of course, there could also be a society just like ours, only with driverless cars and hoverboards in widespread use. Perhaps, the best way to flaunt convention and still write a science fiction novel set in the past is to create your own technology. Base the story on the history of an intriguing invention, which never really existed. Have it secretly possessed by a small research group or an ingenious inventor–such as in the play, The Water Engine  by David Mamet. 

Transformation: Science fiction changes the world as we know it. When I was younger radiation was a favorite cause for special powers, until it became obvious that radiation simply weakens and eventually kills organisms. However, this idea still shows up along with new microbes that change existing life into forms we have never seen. Technology can also include yet to be discovered advances in bioengineering  that lead to bizarre results, such as those found in the Island of Doctor Moreau, by H.G Wells. 

These four characteristics may define science fiction, but that is not all that is required. An imaginative environment needs an equally ingenious plot, and a protagonist with a problem to overcome–a problem that cannot be easily wiped away by the advances of science.  In fact, in the doomsday version of science fiction, the problem may even be caused by scientific advances.

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A Series of World Building Woes

Posted on July 7, 2023 by knlistman

I am tentative about announcing a series because I recall the thrill of reading Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson when I was much younger. In this historical fiction a teenager escapes imprisonment on a ship and flees through the wild highlands of Scotland with the assistance of an actual historical murderer, Alan Breck Stewart. Stevenson wrote a sequel to this book named after the main character, David Balfour. The beginning section, in which David encounters Stewart again piqued my interest. However, the rest of this novel devolved into a love story that was pale in comparison to the first book.

Despite my fear of launching into a series that I could not complete, I started playing with plots for an alternate world series. Initially, a small group of people cross a mountain range and encounter a land with signs of a flourishing civilization that had disappeared, or so they thought. Then, they started running into the inhabitants of that fallen empire. But, I wanted my characters to deal with problems that have plagued people throughout the history of our real world to give me enough fuel for my series.

Series do not have to be started with the intention of creating one. A complete first novel, which would seem to be a stand-alone work, can be expanded. There are numerous ways to do this. Minor details of plots are often not completely wrapped up in the first book and can serve as a basis for the next. The books that follow can explore the life and times of lesser characters as they move into the limelight as the protagonist. In addition, the author can move back in time to prior adventures, such as the origin story of the main character, or forward to show the character’s influence on the future of their “world.” 

When Orson Scott Card wrote Ender’s Game it was a novelette complete in itself. First, he expanded it into a novel, introducing new characters. Then, he started a series based on the characters found in this Hugo Award winning science fiction tale. The next one, Speaker for the Dead takes place in the future, 3000 years later. Ender’s Shadow, a parallel novel, retells Ender’s story from the viewpoint of his very different friend, Bean. The Shadow series continued with the story of Bean’s children. There are now sixteen novels to tell the saga of Ender, his siblings and friends. 

It is not easy to create a fresh new story each time. Books in the series should grow the sphere of the original characters. It would be nice if I could come up with a series of problems that make up one overarching challenge for the main character in the rare case that he or she became unexpectedly popular. Then, I realized the solution was to use Card’s tactic. Build my alternate world and create enough ancillary characters that could appear with problems of their own in each new novel in the series.

My alternate world scheme would not leave me alone in peace. I couldn’t figure out how to develop new plots when I had yet to build my world. Then, I realized I had almost duplicated the society in Britain after the Roman leaders pulled out the military, leaving the people to fight migrants and invaders as they saw fit. Their newcomers arrived by sea, and not over mountains. As I started researching this era, the scarcity of documents from that time period became a challenge. I wanted a realistic history, but the only ones written were penned by two clerics, more interested in defending their religious views than recording history. The later documents were not reliable.

Then, I recalled a student who approached me moaning because she couldn’t find any factual information for a history class report on King Arthur. I informed her that everything she had heard about him was a legend. Historians did not know if he really existed. I was facing the same problem as my new series was set to occur during the time that Arthur was supposed to have lived. I had thought that changing my alternate world to a real historical time period would make it easier. But, I would still be building a world for my characters almost from scratch.

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Messrs & Co

Posted on June 29, 2023 by knlistman

Vernacular language can both draw in readers and become a pitfall. When we understand the vernacular, we feel a closeness to the author, having come from the same world and using those same words. Acronyms and abbreviations are no different. If abbreviations like HEA, ISBN, OTP, or WIP sound strange, we assume the author is just not like us, even though these are abbreviations specific to the writing profession. Acronyms are no longer based on our location or our generation, but our interests. I can converse with people on the other side of either ocean through the internet. But, we still tend to gather in cliques based on the hobbies and professions that form our language.

One of my favorite shortcuts is using AKA when listing the common name for a plant behind the scientific designation–Bellis perennis, AKA daisy. In addition to “also known as” this abbreviation is the name for a people group in the Central African Republic and another one in Pradesh, India. It also stands for Alpha Kappa Alpha, and I am not a sorority girl. So, AKA fails the test of being a useful acronym for me.

There are even older ones that we use without understanding. Do you know the difference between i.e. and e.g. Would it even help if you knew the words behind these initials? First, i.e. stand for “id est”–Latin for “that is.” The abbreviation e.g. is more complex. It means “exempli gratia,” which can be translated as “for example.” Ditching these Latin abbreviations and using the English words is acceptable for almost any kind of publication.

Most of us know what to do when an invitation ends with RSVP. I inform the people that I am attending, so they will supply enough food, chairs, or whatever is needed. However, I can do this without comprehending what “Respondez s’il vous plait” means. My computer word processing program obviously doesn’t understand this phrase as it indicates these are not recognized words. This is a warning to people that believe everything you see marked incorrect by a spell/grammar check is wrong.

If I spy a person cutting across the field in a four-wheel drive vehicle, I may comment on that culprit off-roading in a Jeep. GP, which stands for General Purpose vehicle, morphed into Jeep when used by the US Army a few wars ago. Radar and sonar are also words with a military origin, as is my son’s favorite sport–scuba diving. New technologies leave a trail of new words formed from acronyms. Recently, I’ve received a number of inquiries from people who claim they are specialists at increasing the SEO of my website. Few explain what that means. However, if people understand the definition of SEO, they could do the research to improve the traffic to their own websites without hiring these experts. Unexplained acronyms are a way of making people feel less competent and in need of professional help.

But, I have my revenge. I throw in a few old abbreviations and acronyms–not the i.e. or e.g. from Latin times. Instead I use those only one to two hundred years old. They are harder to decipher because English spelling was not standardized. If my reply is addressed to “Messrs & Co” what do I mean? This is a polite 18th century abbreviation for multiple men owning a single business.

What is my conclusion concerning the use of acronyms in writing? Nearly all of them will place a piece in a specific time, which is not bad. Just leave clues to what they mean. Finally, I offer a bit of dubious wisdom from one of our founding fathers that touches on the use of abbreviations and acronyms.

You should never trust a man who has only one way to spell a word

Thomas Jefferson


Thomas Jefferson, The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Federal Edition (New York and London, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904-5)

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The Life Cycle of a Cliché

Posted on June 22, 2023 by knlistman

What is the difference between a trite phrase and cliché one? The similarity we know. Both are overused. Either term is applicable to many common expressions. Trite phrases are often descriptive: busy as a bee, red as a rose, bright as the sun. A command to “think outside the box” in order to stop using trite phrases employs a cliché. These are often well-worn but useless chunks of advice thrown back at people when a person cannot provide a real answer.

Often clichés have around a thirty year life cycle. The phrase becomes popular with adolescents and “twenty-somethings.” Then, the over-used saying drops in popularity after that time. The formerly “hip” phrases often regain a following when the generation grows older and start reoccurring in movies and TV programs due to nostalgic appeal. However, give an over-used phrase few years hiatus after that and it becomes largely incomprehensible to the next generation. It’s not wise to load your books with them unless you are writing period pieces. Trite phrases and clichés date books and make them seem no longer current.

Humans have the bizarre desire to repeat what other people say and still sound unique.

Humans have the bizarre desire to repeat what other people say and still sound unique. At one time all that is now considered trite was original, fresh and new. These phrases lingered on the periphery of written and spoken society. At some time in the future, current worn-out phrases will probably return to anonymity.

Comments like “twenty-three skidoo” and “Mrs. Grundy” are very rarely used today. They might be included in writing that deals with the period from1900 to 1930s. They might still pepper the dialog of characters from those times. We are often more familiar with positive sounding trite phrases from the past and still willing to praise something as the “bee-knees” or the “cat’s pajamas” today. There is a reason that derogatory terms like “Mrs. Grundy” disappear from our speech. We don’t openly explain what we dislike about this too proper and precise woman. The next generation is timid about using our clichés, not because they are too common, but because they don’t know what they mean.

However, there is another fate for frequently quoted phrases that remain in use. They may become idioms. Translators still struggle to convert our favorite idioms like “it’s time to hit the road,” into other languages. But, we keep using them. In college I studied literature/languages and during one class I discovered Shakespeare referred to jealousy as a “green-eyed monster” and a pointless search as a “wild goose chase.” When I learned koine Greek (the kind of Greek used during the Roman empire), I found that many of their idioms had transferred into English. Perhaps, that is because the early educated people were trained in Greek and Latin.

Unlike clichés and trite phrases, an idiom has staying power, which allows us the freedom to use them when we write.

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Writing Like You Speak

Posted on June 15, 2023 by knlistman

When reading an author’s discussion thread, I noted that more than one person assumed the trick to creating a unique writer’s voice was “writing like you talk.” There is some truth to this if you are a good verbal storyteller. A storyteller often uses “colorful language” to appeal to people who comprehend their regionalisms. Reaching a larger crowd requires more than a smattering of colloquial phrases. Write like you speak and you may be understood by your neighbor today. But, readers removed by a few years, a few hundred miles, or a few rungs on the socioeconomic ladder, must work harder to read what you have written. 

In a discussion on a book written by a prominent newscaster one person observed, “You can really hear him speaking as you read it, and that really slows you down.” The book mimicked the newscaster’s conversational style. However, without the vocal inflections the text was harder to interpret. I prefer reading to listening for the very reason that I can read about three times faster than I can listen. This led me to consider the complications of writing like you speak.

Most people tend to be more dramatic and less accurate when speaking. This allows them to be heard over competing voices. Frequent repetition is a hallmark of speech making. People use filler speech, such as “when you think about things,” because they are actually thinking about things–such as what to say next. One of the biggest drawbacks to writing this way is increased word count for the amount of content. This may be at the root of my friend’s perception that reading a book written in that manner, “really slows you down.” 

Tone is necessary in writing. Much of how we interpret what people say is by interpreting their tone of voice. But because there is no audible tone in writing, it requires unique phrases to achieve the same impact as vocal inflections. Use of current catch phrases and regional interjections set the tone for the text, but may contribute little to the content

People use filler speech, such as “when you think about things,” because they are actually thinking about things–such as what to say next.

Occasionally, I enjoy books by authors who write in the vernacular, in small doses. Mark Twain actually got his start as a lecturer who made his living by talking. His novels were published as serial installments in magazines for a reason. Short passages in folksy language are interesting. However, I witnessed too many students dread the time they spent slogging through his imitation of Old English speech in The Prince and the Pauper. I eventually had to give up on his unabridged version of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

So, when you write like you speak, recall when conversations with another person who chattered on assuming their tone of voice made them sound interesting. Remember all the meandering thoughts and unfinished sentences. Then, edit your work to remove these but keep the tone. People may pay attention when you speak because that is polite. However, you’ll never know when they stopped reading what you have written.

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