Monday, July 2, 2007

Half

If you divide something into two equal parts, do you divide it in half or in halves? Do you half care? Either word you choose, you will agree with 50% of the experts. Do you realize that people care enough to fight about this. I understand people becoming incensed over stupid spelling mistakes or the use of double negatives, but some things strike me as being beside the point.

Good or bad writing is not about grammar, it's about engaging the reader, communicating, making the reader think, experience an emotion, even if it's disagreement. Most of us write to communicate, whether we write fiction or nonfiction. Then there are those who write not to communicate but to show off language skills, impress others with their knowledge and superiority and those are the writer's I cannot bear. Being obscure for the sake of, that's like an artist who paints his own vision and then looks down upon anyone who doesn't understand that vision without being given a clue.

In my opinion, a real writer communicates on some level, a commonality existing so that everyone can enjoy that communication on their own level.

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