~Words Matter~

John Francois' short story "White Sandy Beaches" is a finalist in the "Country Roads" contest and will be in the June issue of that magazine. Reading a ms. copy of it got me thinking about those tricky fiction essentials: Voice, and Point of View. They're often close, but not exactly the same.

Voice, to me, is the tone of the telling. It sets the mood of the piece, whether dark (Jane Eyre), sardonic (The Great Gatsby) or poignant (Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.) It signals right away what kind of story we're reading. Finding the right voice for a particular piece is critical. That voice must be consistent throughout.

Point of view tells us who's doing the telling, an observer or a participant. A short story should have only one POV. A novel is allowed two and occasionally more.

John's story is told from the POV of  a young boy. Its voice places us in the time of the hero's coming of age. I thought John got both just right.

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My Dutch friend Lida, soon after coming to the United Sates, attended a service and was told there would be fellowship afterward. She knew what a fellow was and what a ship was, but couldn't imagine what to expect.

The English we take for granted can be daunting, to say the least. Take the little word 'bow.' Is that bow as what you use to play a musical instrument or bow as the deployer of arrows?  Maybe it's bow as in ribbon or the tie of a sash, or the verb bow meaning  acknowledging applause or an introduction. Let's not even go to bough as in branch. Ttry to explain why bough isn't pronounced like rough, cough or trough. Before he got smutty, comedian George Carlin made a fortune mocking the conntraditions of our language. Foreigners who learn it should take bow.

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A few writers meeting regularly to exchange and critique work can be, under the right conditons, a boon to each other. The right conditions are important.

First, I'd say to keep it small, no more than six thick-skinned serious writers prepared to have their hard work exposed to scrutiny. Membership requires mutual respect, a willingness to listen and the ability to accept honest criticism.

The mechanics can vary from group to group. We like to bring copies of works-in- progress and distribute those after getting input on the material of the week before. What we want most is not editing, but reader response. Did it work for you? Did you trip over anything? Are the characters believable? Does the dialogue sound true?

If you can avoid taking judgments personally, a critique group might help you on the path to publication. It's worth a try.

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"A writer turns cranky when she can't write." Susan Sontag. And not just that, but glum and empty-feeling. Writing deprivation definitely affects our moods. That's why when we don't, or due to circumstances can't write, we feel less alive.

Writing invigorates us. In the current parlance, it 'gets the juices flowing.' For the writer, the act of setting down words into some particular order engages the senses, excites the imagination. Call it the thrill of the chase; the chase being something put down just right.

Robert Olen Butler once said to be a serious writer you must write every day. Nice goal, but it isn't always possible for everyone. Keep writing anyway.

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It's April and the voice of the mowers is heard throughout the land. Guilty of spring fever, I have let life usurp these pages. The rather puny pansies out my window rebuke me for my negligence, too, and lead me to consider how alike gardening and writing are.

Too little attention, poor results.

As plants require fertilizer, so writers need the nourishment of reading, thinking, imagining. Time is wanted. Neither can be rushed. As for trimming, the delete key, that wondrous invention, is to us what pruning is to the gardener.

The comparisons are obvious. I hereby resolve to be better at both writing and watering.

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