Faster than a straight line wind gust, more powerful than an F-5 tornado, able to leap over dangling participles in a single bound: that's my mind when I am writing. And, like a hurricane, it is impossible to control and just as unpredictable.
My Rules for Writing
1. Holy Spirit Filter.
Being a Christian and having a Christian worldview, I desire that all I do should glorify God, and so everything that I write goes through the Holy Spirit filter. A Holy Spirit filter is my conscious effort to make sure everything I write would honor God. Sometimes the Holy Spirit filter kicks in right away and other times not until the revision stage. The best resources for developing a good Holy Spirit filter are the Scriptures and communion with God.
2. Read good books.
Read early and often. Read a quantity of quality. By immersing my brain in excellent literature, naturally I have more stuff to draw from. Quality in, quality out. I don't consciously take note of new vocabulary, interesting sentence structure or theme-building techniques but I do know it soaks in and affects my writing and/or thinking.
3. Experience.
I hardly ever say no to a new experience. (spelunking and rappelling may be exceptions and possibly rock climbing) Even if it sounds like something I'm really not going to be that into, I will give it a try. If I really think I'm going to hate it, I will go along for the ride with my camera in my pocket, with the sole intent of taking pictures for possible blackmail on some future occasion.
4. Perspective--divergent thinking.
I like to write about things people don't expect and in a way they don't expect. I shun tired old cliches, worn-out figures of speech and used-up phrases. I never want my reader to say or think, "Wow, I saw that coming a mile away." Unless it is a tornado heading my way, in which case I want them to say that as soon as they see it.
5. Think-think-think all the time.
My intent is to engage in the life I'm living. But if a thought comes to me, I will jot it down in a little notebook...or on my arm. Or on somebody else's forehead. Whatever works.
6. Reread, review, revise or rewrite.
When I have a brainstorm, I write until I have gotten it all out of my system. Then I go back to reread it. Sometimes I find I like the way it came out and very little revising is necessary. Then there are the other times: the times when I have to cross out, delete or erase, when I have to rewrite phrases and rearrange paragraphs. Or totally scrap it and start over. Usually, I am going to be rewriting. I try not to let it discourage me. I want to really like what I have written and, unless it is a very unusual situation, I do not quit until I am thoroughly pleased with the final product.
7. Vary sentence structure.
We are all so tired of predictable sentence patterns: the old noun followed by a verb with a few adjectives and adverbs thrown in now and then. I like to begin a sentence with a verb phrase now and then or perhaps a couple of adjectives. Sitting in a composition class with my son a few years ago, I learned a lot from the Excellence in Writing curriculum. And I highly recommend it. Sadly, the feeling probably isn't mutual because I routinely ignore some important and possibly essential rules of grammar and punctuation.
8. Engage the audience.
When I choose something to write about, it has to matter to me. However, when I choose something to publish on my blog, it has to matter to me and my audience. From the very first sentence, I want to "hook" my readers and get them to care about what I'm writing about. Sometimes my opening sentence or my title is a little mysterious or unexpected and that piques interest. Other times my title might be boring but the subject is relevant to many. Still other times, the subject is so off-beat that one can hardly resist reading it to see what that's all about.
At least, that is what I am hoping for. And sometimes it works.
