Writing Is Much More Than Just Words...
When I was 10 years old I wrote my first essay, was mesmerized with Walt Whitman and discovered Ralph Waldo Emerson. The former, who penned a poem that I had to learn and recite helped shaped my love for the poetic form of interpretive expression. Both of these historic figures has shaped my journey as a writer. ‘O Captain! My Captain!’ by Mr. Whitman still reverberate in my consciousness, and if asked to recite today I still remember the words! Emerson, whom I consider to be the greatest essay writer ever urged independent thinking and believed that scholars learns
best by engaging life and writing about it! Over the years I’ve endeavored to do that as the writing life has been good to me for the most part. It has allowed me to extend beyond margins and use imagery to dig deep within for literary value. I developed a love for words and set out to learn as much as I could on the origins and how to use them. The gist of this essay lends itself to my assessment that writing, if done from a foundation citing passionate roots for the craft and a willingness to get to the levels here notoriety carry more weight then obscurity, can be the lease on life in garnering individual success. Herein lie my thoughts on the subject:
Much More Than Words...
Emerson also said that, "Talent alone cannot make a writer." It's a phrase most journalists and serious authors can relate to but often finding themselves falling prey to indifference. I may add my two cents by saying; writing is more than just words”. Aspiring writers and veterans too, should be aware that when proper syntax, hyperbole, and metaphor are structured for reader analysis, words become central to dramatic effect and intent. But more often than not, not all things come together for all intended purposes for a good read. Albeit, sometimes even the best ideas, combined with top notch reporting and research can be hard to translate onto the page. Still, there are some writers technically have paid their dues and have learned the craft, and understand the importance of denouement. It’s all about knowing how to turn complex, even tedious, material into compelling stories to keep readers enthralled and pages turning. As an avid Book Reviewer, and Editor even, I run across books that do not adhere to any of the aforementioned. A well-structured manuscript should subscribe to all of the literary elements for telling that story the way you want your readers to get your point. You don't want to waste the reader's time with a book that is not prepared for adequate adherence to literary worth.
The title of this correspondence is one that I've always wanted to verify - that not all authors and books born without enhanced content will buttress this industry for stability. I asked a question among my students as part of an essay writing contest - 'what makes a writer a great author' and got a plethora of answers and unique responses. Having worked as a Journalist and adjunct literary professional wearing many hats, I've seen and read quite a few books that couldn't hold water, as well as a few that were outstanding in presentation and qualitative verve. Authors that stood out were those that wrote from a model that exemplified a deep passion for imagery. I've always surmised that writing is much more than a string of words thrown together from one end to another hoping that the middle won't sag. The reality is that all aspiring authors (and a few veterans, too) must face the fact that the odds are higher that they will not hit the bestseller lists. Nor will they become rich writing as a career, especially without a substantive written legacy among other attributes.Thus, no matter how talented, hardworking and prolific they may be, the market simply cannot sustain more than a few James Pattersons and Toni Morrisons. But writing that seminal novel takes much more than what you and I may see on the surface. We all know that perseverance more often than not will balance the law of averages for some semblance of success when all the 'i's are dotted, and 't's crossed to say that you did your homework. How will it effect context and content? It may even call for that extra-curricular mustard spread out evenly sandwiched between slices of anticipated success to give written works justified tastes for easy consumption. When a story is well-written authors go the length to make sure that the foundation has been put in place and that storyboards are followed and the necessary research done to give it legitimacy. When words flow and jive coherently the aforementioned Mr. Emerson would be proud!
Moreover, when I read I want to identify with what authors are trying to convey…I want their mindsets to further propel me to feel that I’m part of the action. Truly, that’s page-turning delight for me! I love history and can appreciate yesteryear’s timing and sequences; I’m a sucker for a good period piece that tells me what I need to know. But it also has to be written in a way that holds my interest. The topic must be compelling enough, important enough, and conducive to warrant that words are not mere pawns holding the story line hostage. I guess I’m becoming too astute in my judgment of the type of writing that has become mundane and fitting the industry’s penchant for status quo. Because I want more, I have no problem extending my reading file as I’ve become accustomed to ‘reading across the board’. That’s akin to not being limited or inhibited to certain genres that won’t allow a broader base of reference.
Comprehensive journalism and entertaining literature written where words dance on the pages allow metaphoric drama to guide adjectives that render readers spellbound. Alas, the most important feature of this type of writing is finding a personal connection and a reason to say – “damn, that was a good book!"
Of late, I’ve been writing more, especially in the non-fiction mode preparing for publication of a series of my essays and articles written recently. I get a chance to reflect, write and choose from my personal journals, freelance assignments, and memoir that’s relevant from my observance of life seen from my catbird seat. I want to become that vital wordsmith with something to say where the words actually are meaningful. I want the essays that I’ve contributed over the years to academic journals to give credence to my faithfulness. I’ve come to love giving insight on how things should be done, even. I feel that every ‘how-to’ story should offer readers a set of action items or a start-to-finish process they can easily follow and begin to implement the minute they're finished reading. The substance provided needs to be detailed enough that readers find value, but not so detailed that it seems overwhelming and impossible to put into practice.
Words are important to me. I choose them carefully when I articulate orally and written. In my estimation, wit and wisdom are progenitors of them if placed with eloquence beyond ordinary thought. As a researcher writing articles, I want my words to signify a greater sense of flow…I want them to act as a filter, sorting through the information collecting and presenting the pieces that are most useful and significant. I am always reminded by several of my author friends who chide that a good story shouldn’t just sound an alarm -- it should marshal an army of intellectual resources to help readers to respond to stimuli! As you read this piece and formulate your next writing project, put some oomph in your choice of words while writing, think about how you may better present your novel idea so that your words can be that command performance before an enthusiastic audience chomping at the bit for them. Words are characters of content; they need to be dressed right for style and substance. Great writing indeed is much more than words when you’re ready to perform with them!
Obscurity Vs. Notoriety
In my opinion, writing is personal but should be shared. I also believe that an author should revise work as often as needed. I can look no further than my own situation and transition to an becoming an accomplished writer. Am I good enough to be a one with style, substance, and laden with enough talent to be among the published authors with books already on bookshelves? Yes, I ask myself this constantly, and have given it much thought. My lifelong dream was not always to write a book, have it published and to see my name among other authors and titles on those same shelves. Rather, all I ever wanted was to be able to write period and do so with clarity. I feel that somewhere down the line publishing that first book will become a reality in due time.
How daunting is this task if you’ve persevered beyond the nuances and obstacles along the way? I carry my pen and pad savoring poignant and pensive moments capturing and preserving them by writing them down so that thoughts and mindsets for future articles and essays are not lost. There have been times where I’ve been reluctant to share...not wanting people to see that perhaps I may not ready to be unveiled. I’m human and may be prone to eschew workshops and other writing classes because I’m impatient and insolent even, thinking that I’ve been there and done that.
Along the way I’ve learned that writing forces you to be disciplined if the passion is genuine, With it, in your mind you KNOW that you must perfect the craft, and be considered worthy of your audience having confidence in you. If you’re like me, you’re driven by wit, words, and wisdom from your creative mind to be productive and provocative. You have some modicum of success as an Independent Book Reviewer perhaps, you have written columns online, and consider yourself an Essayist with at last count, over 120 essays written within the last year and a half; you have joined a number of online book and reading groups to stay vibrant and in touch with the literary Diaspora, and you blog. And oh do you blog! Blogging is fun, In addition to mly signature ones, I write columns for several online blogs and I love It! The website you may have produced gives you a certain sense of success, but it’s not inclusive of the broad range of success that can be yours only within confining margins of acceptability and success, but who wants only marginal success? I want more, and it’s time!
Obscurity. That word makes me cringe, and I admit it unnerves me in a way that I began to feel like success will elude me. When I sit down to put words to paper, be it via computer or what, I feel the butterflies in my stomach from anticipated fervor knowing that something is going to happen. My creativity is like that, so full of nervous energy until the ink flows indelibly without any inhibitions. This current essay purports to give insight to the persistence of the unknown writer, the writer that needs to shed his cocoon sprout wings and take off. Ask me am I committed and you wouldn’t find anyone more determined to belong. I know Jean-Paul Satre and his defining principles of existentialism and commitment – the necessity of defining oneself by choosing, continually choosing, always an uncompleted act but simultaneously completing, needing to feel accomplished! I was a young man as far as I can remember being someone who wanted to be accepted as a writer – no, I was already sure that I was a writer, even though I had not started my freelance writing career, and hadn’t yet seen anything published with my name attached to it.
Remembering those days before the monies started coming in were dark and wistful, but I always found the courage to stay the course. To understand the elements that went into Satre’s work, is to be existential and the determining agent responsible for my own choices. This is what drove me, and continues to give me that burst of psychological energy needed to keep focused. I feel no negativity being connected to his idealism because to some extent, all writers will have experienced what I’ve felt in wanting to be accepted. Talent notwithstanding, vestiges of existentialism is present in the form of terms that are synonymous with productivity, often the harbinger of doubt. We tend to call it anxiety, writer’s block, ennui, angst, or my favorite – melancholy blues. But is this the best way to define moments like that when nothing of note comes across your pad, the times when you fail to connect the dots?
It gets back to how committed you are and want to be. IIs the passion still relevant and intimate? I’m aware of what needs to be done to give me mental stability and to keep my head above water to reach that higher level. I think about the stages and initiatives to let the powers that be to know whom I am and why I write as I do. It means not bowing down to those that may not understand or even have the type of intellect I do to allow them to see me as being pedantic. And yes, I have had a few of them who feel that I must come down to their level to be accepted and understood. I shrug and admonish them to get a bigger dictionary, or turn the other cheek when they see me coming. The persistence of the unknown writer will always be to harness obscurity, and get his/her work out there to be seen. Notoriety then, will take dare itself.
I’m challenged all the time when I write, because I want to know that each and every bit of work I produce can be the parts of a greater whole to obtain that seemingly obscure notoriety. When there’s no check in the mail I feel the sharp edge of terror gripping me, and reality is much more than the imagery I tend to substitute it for.
I lament the fact that no agent has called me and asked for my manuscripts; no editor has offered me a chance to be redlined and marginalized with trial and error; and certainly no options to be given a pink slip of rejection, even. I suppose that there’s a consolatory rung on the ladder toward acceptance for a writer of my caliber, and it’s the hope that perseverance would continue to prevail against all odds, and that continuity is the core of it. What is the lesson for others to learn having to deal with obscurity? For those of us still languishing in obscurity we have to remind ourselves that we STILL have to keep plying our trade...and that we are not yet part of that viable network until and when we produce something that will be prominent to someone in the right time and the right place. Ralph Ellison in his superb Invisible Man classic in the portrayal of the ‘Battle Royal’, gives an excellent analogy of Black men blindfolded and put into a boxing ring in which they strike out blindly until only two are left standing depicting winners, but actually winning nothing in the process! We are sure that there have been writers who have been told in many ways that their writing is of no significance, who face this serious and continuing crisis every day. I get people e-mailing asking what does it take to be a freelance writer, or what is needed to write with clarity, etc. I tell them unequivocally that patience and perseverance is testing time and learning as much as you can.
There problems are no worse than mine, being obscured waiting for that chance to be seen, recognized and accepted. I tell them also that they MUST pick up the gauntlet and run…for proverbial pens will yield the necessary ink one day to smear obscurity with determined moxie. We will honor what it took to get us where we are today, because insatiable desire has always rendered us thirsty enough to not drink only a half-filled glass as long as there’s room at the top with it running over with our inexhaustible desire to make it! Time will tell for sure. God has led me to Christian non-fiction writing as well as being further encouraged to write more essays. The soul of this man will be barred and the world will know that I’ve arrived!
Tyrell DeVon Floyd is a radio personality based out of Seattle, Wa, and is a contributor to the forthcoming The Soul of a Man. Please visit 
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