Write Like You Speak...

I've always wrote how I would speak, obviously cutting the "umms" and "errs" from my writing because that would just piss you off, and it would piss me off as well. I don't mean writing academically, because that's a whole different ball game, what I'm talking about is creative writing... you probably already guessed that though.



I was inspired from a recent creative writing seminar at university where we were given quotes etc. and one of them said something along the lines of... if you wouldn't say it out loud or use it in everyday conversation, then don't use it in your writing.



I agreed, and then someone pointed out that this isn't necessarily true because what if you're writing in the POV of a characters... it was a good point, I also agreed with this, and then to add to it, I said, but then you'd be in that characters mind and so you'd only use words that they would say.





I'm not one of those pretentious la-di-da-di-da writers, if I don't know a word I won't use it, although I love learning new words, and I have to know where it comes from and how it's best used before I even try to use it.



That's one of the reasons why I prefer to write in 3rd person, because I find that I don't have to be in character, whereas writing in 1st person means that you're that character and you can't break it, not even for a second.



Also, writing like you speak and speaking out loud as you write might help you to wriggle out sentences that don't make sense, words that don't fit right... I guess speaking your work aloud is a GREAT help in general.




So any way... write like you speak... you can always edit later.



-Joseph




Comment. Follow. Share.