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Health & Fitness

Writing Style: So Unfashionable

Lynda StarWriter shares humorous insight on writing styles.

     Passing MSJC via the 215 freeway, the electronic advertising board flashed an imminent date for  a community writing class focusing on the Modern Language Association style (MLA). Good golly, Miss. Molly, students from all walks of life MUST write papers sharing information, substantiating this, forecasting that, disputing proven facts, contending with the pundits, ad thesis nauseum.   

     I wrestled with the MLA style of writing in an American literature class, long, long ago. Hated it! Didn't the professors know that my avid reading enjoyment spirals into a mundane task the second I have to analyze a written piece? Why is this sentence a good example of pathetic writing?  It was a dark and stormy night. I was taught, over many, many years, to show the readers rather than tell them the story, notwithstanding the omission of useless adjectives.  I want to use million-dollar words throughout the story as in the novel, Sophie's Choice (1979) by William Styron, a notable writer.  NOT to detract from the Mr. Styron's aplomb, as I read the best-selling book, I circled every word I didn't understand to later look them up in the dictionary, thus adding to the expansive cache of vocabulary currently at my disposal.

     American author, E.B. White, said, "Be obscure, clearly." The author wrote many popular children's books such as: Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, as well as the gold standard of writing handbooks: The Elements of Style (1918).

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     With regard to style, YourDictionary.com might be of service: Writing Examples.  This plays a continuous, audio loop in my head: C'mon! Don't they know that I'm a writer? Humor, if you please!  As a footnote, writing is pretty easy.  If the piece is non-fiction, research is a the pivotal component.  It's the editing and rewriting, rewriting and editing that takes the most time while butterfly ideas and other activities are tempting me to abandon the work.  

     For example, I'm painting the inside of my home and I'm writing this in piecemeal fashion. I began each project three days ago. It's such beautiful weather, I'm thinking of riding my mountain bike and taking a run in Menifee's back forty.  I have a church gig later this afternoon.  My son, Juan, needs help with some homework and I'm building a website.  Espresso, anyone?

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     I broke into a cold sweat just thinking about those late night, tedious editing sessions. Back then, I was on a deadline and on a grading curve. I'd always return to class with a smidgeon of hope for having composed the perfectly cited research paper about Mark Twain's style, Edgar Allan Poe's short stories or Walt Whitman's poetic innovation.  The re-written opuses only garnered bright red, scribbled proof marks and lackluster grades from Professor Sturdemeyer's assistant, Lilly.  Exhausted, I settled for average grades on the papers, combined with the extra credit for helping Lilly to type her graduate thesis. This strategy pushed my final grade to a 'B'. 

     In graduate business school, the American Psychological Association (APA) style was a little more pliable.  Just in case you're on this track, the following tutorial from the APA may be of help:  APA Style Tutorial

University of Redlands, Dr. Larry Sunn, walked students through the development of a hypothesis, the collection of data, the statistical number crunching and the 200-page, thesis composition which took about two years to finish, given the formal research on the Loma Linda Veteran's Hospital's Community-Based Outlying Clinics' (CBOCs) financials.  Numbers, damned numbers and statistics.  I love stats because I understand the principles enough to demonstrate my research – when, in fact, I formally inquire.

     On the other, nominal hand, Sebastian Wernicke shares satire on statistics in a seven-minute presentation (April 30, 2010) in a TED Talk video:  TED Talks: Lies, More Lies and Damned Statistics.  Whether or not you're a numbers kind of person, he makes a humorous point of picking a topic and figuring out whether it can be quantified.

     I'm acclimated to the Associated Press (AP) style of writing straight news, get-to-the-point journalism, punctuation and grammar, briefly: AP Style for Journalism.

     I'm no Hunter Thompson, Gloria Steinem or Ann Coulter, but I know like I know know citing facts, direct quotes, even vague observations better have a pinpoint reference, down to the publication title, the author(s) name, the edition and the page number all formatted, just so, within the body of a formal report, not to mention the reference page. Most writers read oodles of work by other writers. I'm no exception.

     As for my travels in freelance writing, blogging and video production, references and credits are a tad easier these days since I can place links directly to a source. There have been a few kinks with the the fair use aspect of copyrighted material, for example, the songs I use in some of my storyboards.  I purchase the music and credit the artist(s).  Most of the video productions are edited via a software provider who has licensed the music for client use.

     In my case, I have yet to compose a major motion picture, however, the productions are just as crucial to my clientele. This isn't a primer in copyrights, however.  The legal implications are far-reaching and convoluted, I'm sure.  I'm amenable to the arm-chair critics, the vocal detractors, as well, the adoring fans, the supportive friends and loving family members who all help in catapulting a writer to literary heights – once the work is finished.

     Seek counsel if need be.  All I know is that the minute a piece is written, it's copyrighted.  If any or all of an author's piece is reproduced in written fashion, that's literary theft: plagiarism.  I've inserted a link to some information on the topic:  Copyright Compliance and Fair Use White Paper.

     I never mastered MLA style of writing. I'm not a pundit. The term, Blogger, works for me today. When I saw the aforementioned sign announcing the MLA writing class, I stepped on the gas, never to look back, though I'm looking forward to my son, Juan's, imminent college adventures in writing for which Linfield High School is preparing him.  I signed him up for the class. He'll thank me later.

Lynda StarWriter is a freelance writer and public speaker.  lyndastarwriter@aol.com

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