Education

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Are You An Over-Educated Word Snob?

Long Complex Words Make Readers Think You Are A Snob or A Fake

 

education for bloggers

 

Today I listened to the ProBlogger podcast PB052: 10 Writing Tips to Help You Sound More Human, here. You can go there later to listen to the whole thing, but stay with me for a bit to think about this one idea.

 

Banner Logo/Picture of Darren Rouse, ProBlogger

ProBlogger Darren Rouse

 

It’s full of great advice from “Beth Dunn, Product Editor-in-Chief at HubSpot. In [this] podcast episode, Beth shares really practical tips and strategies you can use for helping you sound more human in the way you write your blog content.”

 

Overall I found this very helpful for someone like me that’s still (perpetually – um, I mean always) struggling to figure out how to blog, and blog well. All of these tips are intended to build your brand through managing how your readers perceive (see) you.

 

use simpler, shorter words

 

But there was one tip that I really related to, and that was #2: Convey that you’re honest. How? Beth suggests that the way to do this is to use simpler, shorter words, which go a long way to making you sound more trustworthy. Moreover, using long, complex words takes more brain power both to read and to understand. This “cognitive burden” as ProBlogger host Darren Rouse suggests, takes more time and energy, neither of which your readers – that is my readers – you – have to spare.

 

Let me tell you a story

 

But first I have to confess that, as a child, I was a really annoying little prig. I didn’t know this at the time, of course. But with my blue eyes, and blonde ringlets, my Pollyanna notions and goody-two-shoes righteousness, I must have been obnoxious. I was one of those kids who didn’t like dirt, noise, old people, other kids—especially boys, sharing my things, not getting my own way, or my food touching. Yeah, like that.

 

blond schoolgirl in uniform

Not me – but you get the idea

 

 

I can remember a time, about grade four maybe, when some kid in the back of class pitched a rubber eraser at some girl’s head and made her cry, and no one would fess up. Classic scenario. The poor beleaguered (er, I mean long-suffering) nuns (yes, I know, Catholic school *eye roll*) decided to haul each and every kid in the class down to the principal’s office, one at a time, trying to intimidate (scare?) a confession out of someone, anyone, by threatening the strap.

 

By the time my turn came, my stiff little back was up and those nuns didn’t stand a chance. I strode in there and announced (in my undoubtedly squeaky, righteous little girl voice): “I didn’t do anything wrong and you have NO RIGHT to strap me!” They smiled and thanked me (probably laughing into their wimples) and sent me back to class. Presumably that’s what happened to everyone else too, but in my arrogant little mind, it was the way I’d handled it. I’d told them!

 

 

I was a word-nerd from the start, and because I loved words, ideas, books and learning, of course I loved school. That right there was enough to make me unpopular.

 

 

I wasn’t unpopular, though. Not really. I wasn’t Miss Congeniality, but I always had friends. And I didn’t mind be the teacher’s pet. I wasn’t mean or rude or a snob. I was polite to everyone and never stepped out of bounds, so my nose was squeaky clean.

 

 

How to win friends and influence people:

act dumb[er]?

 

 

When I was nine years old, we moved to a new, faraway neighborhood. For about a year and a half, I bussed into town to the same school. But after a while, I got to know some local kids and decided I wanted to go to the local elementary school. Now picture grade six.

 

Grade six group photo 1970's

NOT my Grade 6 class photo, but gosh it could be! Right down to the teacher Mr. Now.

 

 

It was a pretty hip school, with open areas and blended grades and other new-agey ideas from the 1970’s that probably had merit, but didn’t amount to much teaching and learning. Coming from my strict Catholic school culture, I was light years ahead academically.

 

 

apparently, I used really big words

 

the intellectual snob

 

 

And, apparently, I used really big words. My new classmates were quick to point this out, and to ridicule me relentlessly (um, non-stop) for it. It hurt. After all, I was just being my genuinely priggish little self. I wasn’t a snob or trying to lord it over them. Just using my “god-given” talents.

 

 

Think about it for a sec. If you ask someone like Malcolm Gladwell or educator and author of The Element Ken Robinson they’ll tell you that it’s the combination of a spark of talent, a lot of passion and a thousand hours of practice that create success. So if you take someone like, I don’t know, Keith Richards say, who’s spent his long, long, long life playing the guitar and singing, you’d expect him to be pretty good at it. You wouldn’t say to him that he should pull his punches so he doesn’t look like a snob, or like he’s trying too hard. Would you?

 

 Keith Richards performing

 

 

Back to my story. Wishing to be at least somewhat popular, I quickly adapted to this new hostile environment by dumbing down my language. I used simpler, shorter words, learned to speak some kind of regular kid vernacular (slang?), and spiced things up with vulgar swear words to be safe. I still speak a little like this, though I do know how to write “proper English.”

 

 

Later on in life, I thought I’d probably short-changed myself. With more support, maybe I could have taken that edge and turned it into future opportunities: scholarships, better jobs, an earlier start to my writing career, maybe. Who knows?

 

 

I’m not saying you can’t communicate intelligent ideas with simple words. But the English language has so many. It just seems like such a waste. What do you think? If this is true, and apparently it is, where can a person put a good education use?

 

 

I promised myself that I would never again be untrue to myself. I would never pretend to be something that I was not. And I would never sell my own strengths and talents short. And if people didn’t like it, well, too bad for them. That was who I was.

 

 

And now they’re telling me I have to exchange my hard-earned vocabulary for a simpler, more reader-friendly one in order to appear honest and trustworthy. My inner prig is pouting.
pink flamingo flock acting snobby

 

 

I want to throw a party for other disadvantaged over-educated intellectual snobs so everyone can show off their language mastery and toss as many big words around as they like. It would be very exclusive. No wait, that sounds like a university faculty party full of boring and pretentious boors. Bad idea.

 

 

Tell me what you think. Were you every ridiculed for being too good at something? Do you prefer to read blog posts and articles that use simple shorter words rather than stretching your knowledge of the English language and keeping the bar high? I look forward to hearing your opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Real Know-It-Alls

6173548853_05969af167I just had to repost this from The Fickle Brain because I agree with it so much. I’ve always been addicted to learning, and can vouch for the fact that the more I learn, the less I feel I know. This has posed a problem when it comes to blogging, by the way, because in the glut of information that we all swim today, how can I possibly have anything worthy to add to the pile? It makes it very difficult to decide what to blog about, and feel that I’m not just taking up space with words that someone else, someone better qualified, could say in a much more erudite manner. Still dealing with that, but at least I’m able to pass along this post from The Fickle Brain

 Real Know-It-Alls.

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When Work Feels Like Play

Writing is a solitary affair, as many have noted before. And, ironically, filmmaking is a highly collaborative effort, although often screenwriters are excluded from the process once the screenplay has received its final edits. This past weekend I participated in an innovative, collaborative INTENSE workshop for screenwriters that involved a talented group of actors as well. This connection proved to be a unique and fascinating education for all of us. The more we got involved, the more our work resembled play. And when your work feels like play, you know you’re on the right track.

394540090_28fc78726f_zThe workshop, called The Ring Screenwriting Intensive, was developed and taught by Michael St. John Smith of McIlroy & Associates of Vancouver, an experienced actor and screenwriter. The three day workshop covered both the basics and many unique, in depth techniques for screenwriters to learn and hone their craft. Scenes written during the workshop were then cast and read by actors also participating in training workshops. Bringing together these two groups is both innovative and extremely valuable. As I mentioned, they don’t often work together, and yet there is so much to benefit both when they can begin to see how the others think and work, not the least of which is a larger understanding and respect for the skills and discipline of each group. Working face to face with actors and having them bring your written words to life, all in the matter of a couple of days, is at once terrifying, validating, exhilarating and humbling. A writer immediately realizes that locked away in their solitary writing studio, they cannot achieve a completely realized project without a deeper understanding of what others with talent and specialized skills will bring to it once it leaves their hands. One is left with a sense of both renewed confidence and also humility.

Energy levels were very  high all weekend, and although drained by the end, I felt an almost euphoric energy both within myself and in the room as this collection of creative, talented and passionate writers worked through exercises, viewed film clips, shared ideas, sharpened their pencils and immersed themselves in storytelling. It was electrifying. Afterwards, as the workshop wound down, it was clear we were already feeling a sense of withdrawal from the intimate community of minds and personalities that we’d forged in such a short time.

Fortunately, The Ring workshop is new, and so its developers, Michael and Andrew, are very open to input regarding improvements, further developments and platforms to allow this fledgling community of writers to be sustained. Walking away at the end of the weekend, I can say I have a healthy appetite for more of the same, and a strong desire to ensure this community lives on and thrives. There is no excuse for sitting in your writing studio alone and cut off from the world when a community of writers and others can so energize and empower your work. Besides that it’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time. I strongly recommend The Ring workshop for those in the Vancouver area, but regardless go out and find like-minded individuals with whom to share your ideas and passion. There’s nothing better.

Have you had a similarly empowering experience? In the comment section below, tell me about your experiences working with other writers or actors to develop your craft, or a similar experience in a different field.

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Exploding Brain Syndrome

Well I see it’s quite a while since I added anything new to my site. I have a good excuse, honest.

I mentioned in What’s New back in April that I’d been taking a few courses. Well, I sure did. I don’t know what came over me. I seem to have discovered a multitude of wonderful resources and slipped temporarily into a kind of addiction to learning. After taking two online course from Laurie Schnebley at WriterU entitled the Hero’s Personality Ladder and Plotting Via Motivation, I judged a contest, took a WordPress class online through the RWA-PRO group, then headed off to the Banff Centre for the Arts for the weeklong Writing with Style Workshop, as mentioned earlier.

Not yet ready to lie down, I then attended the RWAGVChapter Write On Vancouver Conference and enjoyed the amazing Michael Hauge’s “Style Mastery” Workshop. Then at the end of May, the RWAGVChapter hosted an all day workshop with the intrepid Bob Meyer on the Warrior Writer. Throughout May, I was also taking Margie Lawson’s Deep Edits course online, by which time I was practically brain dead. I just couldn’t keep up with the assignments, even though the material was fascinating and I wanted to juice it for every ounce of wisdom (and trust me, Margie has plenty to offer.)

I think that’s when I turned off and tuned out completely, and after a brief reprieve, decided to go back to working on the first draft of my WIP, Coming About (see Books.) I was still trying to write 50K words between February and the RWA National Conference in NYC in late June, which, sadly, I was unable to attend.  Nevertheless, I actually did ultimately succeed in meeting the goal, and have continued onward through the summer adding to that total, so that now, I’m about 75% complete the first draft of the ms. with about 78,500 words to date.

Margie’s material is so terrific that it was hard to keep writing when I knew there was still so much to learn. But if there’s one thing I have learned, it’s that the first draft hasn’t much to do with all those terrific writing skills. Those are best applied later, during revisions. It’s a funny thing. I’ve always preferred writing the first draft, and rather dreaded the revisions. More on that later.

Thanks for this cool image from http://pretendyoudontreadme.blogspot.com/2010/08/you-think-too-much-people-complain.html

My brain is so overfilled with fantastic new knowledge that it’s difficult to recap, but I want to say at least one pithy thing about each of the courses that I’ve taken this spring. Firstly, in The Hero’s Personality Ladder, I learned that it’s critical to know your protagonist very well before you begin to write. It’s important to understand both the hero’s strengths and weaknesses, because these tell you how s/he will react to stimuli, and this clues you into what obstacles to throw in their path to best reveal their transformation. Also, these strengths and weaknesses have to be revealed early in the story.

Progressing on from there, Plotting Via Motivation delves deeper into character, and motivation, including backstory, to dig down beneath the surface. By asking Why? we can understand what really makes our characters tick, and expose their most basic needs. Sometimes these are selfish and not-so-honourable, but they are the motives and needs that make the characters both human and believable. Weaving together the personalities and motivations of the main characters reveals the warp and weft of your plot. Et Voila.

About the WordPress course, I can only say to my RWA-PRO peers, THANK YOU! For a somewhat-too-old-to-be-quite-comfortable with this technology, this course demystified and made available the tools to create a web presence which was before unavailable. It turned out to be quite simple. Which is not to say I’m ready for regular blog posts. But it’s a start.

The Writing with Style workshop at the Banff Centre was a once in a lifetime rich experience. There is simply nothing like total immersion in a full time writing environment surrounding by peers who are on the same journey. I learned valuable skills from each of the stylistas in my Novel-First Chapter workshop, and we all thrived under the expert guidance of award winning author Audrey Thomas. From these talented writers I learned something about dreams, voice, history, detail, humour, culture and discipline. Most of all I learned to believe in and never to short-change your own vision as a writer.

Michael Hauge’s workshop was an interesting take on similar material to Christopher Vogler’s Hero’s Journey but with a focus on Michael’s massive experience with screenwriting and vetting. With this unique perspective came new terminology and some questions and answers about story structure and the relationship between the hero’s inner and outer journey that were fresh and helpful.

Bob Mayer’s workshop focussed on the Writer as a professional. The material is available in his book Warrior Writer: From Writer to Published Author and delves into the psychology of the writer’s mind to help articulate personal goals and achieve them. It’s an aspect of the writing life that’s seldom touched upon, and Bob digs deep into character to help us understand what we want and what might be holding us back. (I will I will I WILL send out those D**M queries!) Thanks so much Bob!

Back to Margie Lawson. What can I say. I’ve learned something valuable from all my teachers, but I’ve been looking for the tools that Margie teaches for years. Until now, I’ve approached revisions in an optimistic but fairly hapless way. Margie’s Deep Edits and Rhetorical Devices class gave me a system to examine my writing, and that of others, and to really understand what it’s doing and HOW. It’s rational, which I guess I like. There’s often so much going on in my head that I can’t pin it down, and end up spinning my wheels (cliche alert! ; )) and feeling helpless, so I like systems to organize my thoughts. Now I’m looking forward to finishing my first draft of Coming About and getting to work tightening up the first two books before coming back at the new one with fresh eyes and VERY sharp tools. So Exciting!

I so enjoyed Margie’s class that I also downloaded the lecture packets for her other two classes: Empowering Character Emotions and Writing Body Language and Dialogue Cues Like a Psychologist. I’ve just started working through the second one (I know, I know, I’m supposed to be taking a  break from courses, but…) WOW. It’s great material. What can I say?

Back to writing. Just coming to the juicy part now. We’ll see if all this stuff really works. Cheerio.

Oh! I’m also going to test the Pomodoro method as recommended by Randy Ingermanson. Just sayin’ : )