For the at least the 12th time, I am reading Anne Frank’s Diary. For some reason, the first time I read this work, I fell instantly in love with her writing style.

This young girl, who died at 15, left behind the one of the only first hand accounts of the experience of the Jews during World War Two. From her, we learn of the hardships that families faced while trying to save themselves.
She wrote as though she was addressing a dear and near friend. She calls her journal “Kitty” and treats Kitty as her best friend. Anne also writes in the first person and does it successfully.

I have seen very few writers, many who have been writing for years, accomplish writing in the first person without losing the interest of their audience.

Granted Anne’s diary was not one that was meant to have an audience. At first Anne was writing for herself. Later she switched to writing for a potential audience, but the reader would never know the difference.

Her ability to draw her readers into her world seems to be tied to her ability to make her reader feel like they are her best friend and that she is actually carrying on a conversation with them. I think that more writers need to take note of Anne’s style and write as though they are telling a long, oral story to their friends and worry less about grammar, spelling, etc.

Just get your story out and worry about the fine details later. Don’t spend hours dwelling on names, character descriptions and the like. Worry more about telling your story. You can name your characters later. The actions your characters take and the things they say may be able to help you decide on a name for them after the story has been going for a while.

I am slowly working on writing a personal story about a little known pain condition that I have struggled with for the past 10 years. I am currently writing in the first person and I know that this first attempt will fail to capture the intended audience. Perhaps I will take a page out of Anne’s book, so to speak, and try to write in a more interesting way. I want my readers to feel as though they have found a new friend, a source of comfort as they find a person who can truly relate to them, as Anne does with her audience.

Common Grammar Mistakes

Part 3 of 5

Instant Messenger and Texting Language in Writing

As you continue to write your Great American novel and you are so excited about this work, that often you slip into the common IM and texting language while you are writing. I have seen so many people who write novels and stories do this.

I have done it myself. Each week I email the parents of the my girl scout troop. I have started the emails like this: “Hi. Hope ur doing well this wk. R next meetng is on Mon. @ 7”. Holy crackers! That is horrible. I am so used to typing in an IM in an informal way, that it slips into my every day use. This happens to a lot of people. My college professors used to cringe when certain students would hand in their work because they knew that it was full of what I can IM shorthand. I have been resistant to using it in the pass because I think that it reflects laziness in the writer.

When this IM language starts to make it into your every day writing you are need to assess what you are truly trying to say and find a way to get yourself out of that mode while you are doing some writing that you hope to have published. If there is a valid point with having LOL, BRB, L8R in your writing the IM language will be fine. For instance you are writing a novel about teenagers and you are trying to show the IM conversation between them. If you are writing a novel like Pride and Prejudice then the IM language needs to take a vacation.

To help get yourself into mode of not using IM shorthand, you need to first remind yourself that if you would not use it in a business setting, then it probably should not be used in your novel unless it meets certain criteria in terms of fitting into the story. Also be sure that you are not using shortened sentences. For instance when I am IM-ing with my cousin, I tend to leave off the “I” at the beginning of any sentence when I am talking about myself.

Example:

Cousin: So what did you do today?

Me: Baked a cake and folded clothes. You?

That is an incomplete sentence, but since I am so used to writing in this style, I have found that it tends to slip into my writing without warning. I have to make an effort to stop myself from doing the same thing when I writing a business letter or professional email. I have seen several emails where I tend to roll my eyes because I see a lot of people slip into this.

Remember that the use of this language tends to reflect laziness as a writer and when you are truly passionate about writing, you need to stay away from IM-ease as much as possible. It will make your writing smoother and your editor happier. 🙂