Friday, May 9, 2014

26 Letters.


I confess to being something of a Luddite. When I see a technological innovation that will help me do something I already do easier or more efficiently or better, I will grab onto it. But I am not one who grabs every new thing that comes along only to spend a lot of time looking for something to do with it.
And so it was with some amusement that I read some time ago about a fancy new “writing tool” for your computer that has so many “powerful” gizmos and gadgets it practically writes books all by itself. Like many things related to computers, the people pushing it (or justifying their use of it) fall all over themselves with praise almost to the same extent they trip the rest of us up with jargon like “feature-rich” and “robust.”
Wow. What is it that makes us want to turn a simple job like writing (at least in terms of getting the words down) into something so complicated?
Somehow, mankind has managed to write for far longer than we can remember, beginning with scratching characters in clay (a method which still works, should we care to employ it, whereas today’s fancy “writing tools” will likely be obsolete long before you are). Today, with the English language, writing is really nothing more than wrangling the 26 little letters of our alphabet and a few punctuation marks. That’s all. It’s as simple—and difficult—as that.
The thing is, paying attention to what those letters say on the page is infinitely more important than how we get them there.
I am certainly no expert at writing. But I know, and know about, lots of writers of great accomplishment; some are authors of dozens, scores, even hundreds of books. And few, if any, of them seem to worry much about the process of writing.
Instead, they worry about the result.
Most seem content with ordinary word processing programs, which, nowadays, means Microsoft Word more often than not. But I have a good friend from up the road, Michael Zimmer, who writes top-notch, intricately plotted novels about Western America using that old swaybacked workhorse, Word Perfect. Paul Zarzyski, a lauded poet, writes his poems on a used, manual, baby-blue portable typewriter he’s used since his college days. Loren Estleman, whose garage is brimming with literary awards for his many mystery and Western novels, likewise writes them all on a manual typewriter. Then there’s Wendell Berry, whose numerous books, from poetry to novels to essays to nonfiction, were and are written in longhand, with a number two pencil, on a yellow notepad.
And so on.
Twenty-six letters. That’s all it takes. You can either arrange them well, or you can’t. If you can, you’re a writer. If you’re not, all the fancy tools in the world won’t make you one.
  

10 comments:

  1. I don't use Microsoft Word for writing novels anymore. Instead, I use something less intimidating for putting down my forays into using 26 letters: yWriter5. yWriter5, which is FREE software because of the author/creator's big heart, gives me a fresh window for each scene, and I can write a scene at a time, no worries. Put several together to make a chapter, rearrange my scenes and/or chapters as I will, and voilá! I have a novel!

    Then the hard work begins, heh-heh.

    (I love yWriter5, or can you already tell?)

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    Replies
    1. Whatever bales your hay, Marsha.

      My stories, whether fiction or nonfiction, are too unruly to submit to such discipline and tend to go their own way and organize themselves as they go. I fear if I tried to corral them with a writing program they would end up too manufactured or mechanical.

      But, like my daddy always used to say sometimes, whatever works.

      Delete
  2. When did they add all of those letters? Here I've been using 12, 13 at most. Looks like a rewrite coming.

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    1. Well, Gary, 12 or 13 letters work for me if I am writing short stories, but for a novel I need all 26.

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  3. Rod, the 26-letter strategy seems to work a heck of a lot better than those high-priced, promise-to-make-you-a-star, whiz-bang softwar that will practically "write the book for you." Doesn't that kind of take the fun out of the craft of writing?

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    1. Sure seems like it to me, Tom. Thanks for the comment.

      Delete
  4. Luddite? Me too. I'm the only guy in our neck of the woods with charcoal in the grill, wood in the fireplace and real needles on the floor at Christmas. I admit to using a computer to write. A book from me on a typewriter or legal pad would be an editor's worst nightmare. Research is another story. It goes in a shirt pocket size spiral notebook recorded in ballpoint pen. I'm left handed so pencils are messy. I make my notes with the spiral at the bottom of the page- another concession to the gift of left-handedness. OK technocrats, automate that!

    Another good one, Rod. Thanks.
    Paul

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    1. Left handed? That explains a lot, Paul. Thanks for the comment.

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  5. Rod, I may not know much but I do know that if Linda Hasslestrom says something's worth reading, it will be...which is how I landed on your blog today and got to read your excellent essay.

    I remember meeting you years ago, in Elko, and it's good to cross paths with you once again. From the looks of your blog and website, you've been busy!

    I am a www.melindagreenharvey.com; stop by if you've got some time.

    Melinda

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  6. Thanks, Melinda. It's good to hear from you. I am a great admirer of Linda Hasselstrom and am flattered she found this not only worth reading, but passing on! Thanks again for the kind comment.

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