Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Flaws are Fine

II've noticed something. When I'm writing in my journal, which I do frequently, my writing is much different than it is when I'm writing elsewhere. I don't use whole sentences. I use a ton of elipses. I can stretch a single inchoate sentence over a page and a half. Basically, I describe my thoughts and the events in my day in a series of fragments and run-ons. And rather than be dismayed by this, I think it's kind of cool. I'm mean, I'm a grammar nazi and I can be pretty neurotic when it comes to correct punctuation and usage and whatnot (I'm that girl who deletes her own tweets and comments/status post updates on facebook when I discover an error and reposts the edited version). Still, the "messiness" of my informal writing makes me happy. It sort of takes for granted modifying circumstances. It's raw. It's life.


...the "messiness" makes me happy...




I would like to bring some of this disorder to my creative writing. Some fragmented, incomplete elements. I think this could make my prose a little more human. Somebody once told me that ancient Chinese art as well as many other great works of art throughout history, often have flaws that the artists deliberately included. I make a comparison in my head between these sublty flawed works of visual art and something akin perhaps to "stream of consciousness" in fictional prose. Both are ways to convey authentic human experience.

So maybe a little "messiness" or something that is just a little "off" in our creative work is not a bad thing. Maybe it's a really beautiful thing. Maybe it's what makes it uniquely our own.

8 comments:

  1. 100% agree! I'd love to see some of that in your work. I never realized this intelecutally, but I think this is what I do in some of my writing, we've talked about.

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  2. I like this. As a fellow grammar/punctuation nazi, I also find myself relaxing my own rules when I'm writing only for myself.
    But not spelling. Never spelling! lol

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  3. Haha! I'm also unable to relax on the spelling!

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  4. You inspired me to write some of my thoughts about this! Thank you for this post; it was awesome! Check my post for errors at http://accordingtogf.blogspot.com/2011/01/comma-spliced-blog.html

    Thanks again,
    gf

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  5. I love it bringing out your perfections and imperfections :)

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  6. @Gregory & Natural Black Diamond,

    Thanks so much for dropping by! Gregory, I will definitely check your site.

    Happy writing!

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  7. Found this post through Seeded Buzz and I must say, we are on the same page! I totally agree! I do not believe there should be so many rules when it comes to writing and actually any form of art for that matter. You most certainly sparked my muse and I will be buzzing this one!
    Thanks!
    Kellie

    P.S. I am now following your site :)

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  8. Write by feeling [not thinking] until you heal yourself free :)

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