Wow, I'm on a roll. Three posts in four days. I think this should make up for my serious neglect earlier this year. Yes, I think it does.
So, I was in bed last night in that Twilight Zone type state right in between wake and sleep and I got an idea. It was probably because I had just finished reading a chapter of Stephen King's genius book On Writing. Anyway, he wrote quite proficiently and passionately about vocabulary and gave a very elloquent and convincing argument against the use of gratuitous large words (which that sentence is a strangely coincidental example of...). Basically he said your reader shouldn't need to have a dictionary handy in order to read your book. So I've decided to conduct an experiment that takes his advice a little too far. This way, no one will ever need a dictionary because the definitions are in the story. Here's a little story of mine, replacing the words with their definitions.
As I succeeded in arriving on the large motor vehicle (having a long body, equipped with seats or benches for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service) on this present day, there was an amusingly small female who was far advanced in the years of her life, resting with the body supported by the buttocks or thighs on one of the adjacently oriented places that are designed to support a person in a sitting position. She was not large as compared with others of the same kind and rounded in form. She seemed to the eye as slightly curious because the only facial cosmetics she possessed the characteristics of on the front part of her head (from the forehead to the chin) was a shade or comparative darkness, in a colour between white or black, around the organs of sight. To be genuine or unadulterated, I have an opinion that you ought not to have on the person habitually, a shade or comparative darkness (in a colour between white and black) around the organs of sight, if you have keratinous filaments growing from the skin also in a colour between white and black. It doesn't operate effectively. She also maintained the action of casting brief looks at me. I, in all likelihood, seemed to the eye not alike in character or quality because I had a shade or comparative darkness, in a dark tertiary colour with a yellowish or reddish hue, around the organs of sight. Upon the time that she stood into an erect position in order to depart and move away from the the large motor vehicle (having a long body, equipped with seats or benches for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service), I kept from the knowledge of anyone that I felt a need or desire for her to suddenly impede or catch her foot so as to throw her down. That may convey the certain impression when read to be ill-willed or malicious, but she was robustly built and she wouldn't have damaged or decreased the efficiency of herself upon the action. I merely felt a need or desire to assume a facial expression indicating pleasure, favor, or amusement. I haven't assumed a facial expression indicating pleasure, favor, or amusement on a large motor vehicle (having a long body, equipped with seats or benches for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service) in a beyond normal or moderate period or interval of duration. Markedly since the previous most recent occasion that I had occupied a place on a large motor vehicle (having a long body, equipped with seats or benches for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service) I became afflicted with a very unpleasant slice-like wound on the end of the bone in the bend or joint of my arm between the upper arm and forearm.
I think that was supposed to make a lot more sense when I thought of it last night. I got a kick out of it. I have also generated some level of respect for the people who "write" dictionaries. Not a lot, but a bit.
Blurb.
So, I was in bed last night in that Twilight Zone type state right in between wake and sleep and I got an idea. It was probably because I had just finished reading a chapter of Stephen King's genius book On Writing. Anyway, he wrote quite proficiently and passionately about vocabulary and gave a very elloquent and convincing argument against the use of gratuitous large words (which that sentence is a strangely coincidental example of...). Basically he said your reader shouldn't need to have a dictionary handy in order to read your book. So I've decided to conduct an experiment that takes his advice a little too far. This way, no one will ever need a dictionary because the definitions are in the story. Here's a little story of mine, replacing the words with their definitions.
As I succeeded in arriving on the large motor vehicle (having a long body, equipped with seats or benches for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service) on this present day, there was an amusingly small female who was far advanced in the years of her life, resting with the body supported by the buttocks or thighs on one of the adjacently oriented places that are designed to support a person in a sitting position. She was not large as compared with others of the same kind and rounded in form. She seemed to the eye as slightly curious because the only facial cosmetics she possessed the characteristics of on the front part of her head (from the forehead to the chin) was a shade or comparative darkness, in a colour between white or black, around the organs of sight. To be genuine or unadulterated, I have an opinion that you ought not to have on the person habitually, a shade or comparative darkness (in a colour between white and black) around the organs of sight, if you have keratinous filaments growing from the skin also in a colour between white and black. It doesn't operate effectively. She also maintained the action of casting brief looks at me. I, in all likelihood, seemed to the eye not alike in character or quality because I had a shade or comparative darkness, in a dark tertiary colour with a yellowish or reddish hue, around the organs of sight. Upon the time that she stood into an erect position in order to depart and move away from the the large motor vehicle (having a long body, equipped with seats or benches for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service), I kept from the knowledge of anyone that I felt a need or desire for her to suddenly impede or catch her foot so as to throw her down. That may convey the certain impression when read to be ill-willed or malicious, but she was robustly built and she wouldn't have damaged or decreased the efficiency of herself upon the action. I merely felt a need or desire to assume a facial expression indicating pleasure, favor, or amusement. I haven't assumed a facial expression indicating pleasure, favor, or amusement on a large motor vehicle (having a long body, equipped with seats or benches for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service) in a beyond normal or moderate period or interval of duration. Markedly since the previous most recent occasion that I had occupied a place on a large motor vehicle (having a long body, equipped with seats or benches for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service) I became afflicted with a very unpleasant slice-like wound on the end of the bone in the bend or joint of my arm between the upper arm and forearm.
I think that was supposed to make a lot more sense when I thought of it last night. I got a kick out of it. I have also generated some level of respect for the people who "write" dictionaries. Not a lot, but a bit.
Blurb.
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