tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post8615914804995432978..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: In the beginning were words - by Bill KirtonKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-82920909223366593102013-06-09T11:53:00.486+01:002013-06-09T11:53:00.486+01:00Thanks, Kathleen - but they'd better not be or...Thanks, Kathleen - but they'd better not be or we're all in trouble.Bill Kirtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16345949773423764808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-78610818802940344172013-06-08T14:56:41.758+01:002013-06-08T14:56:41.758+01:00Brilliant Bill!!! Words are inadequate . . . .
Brilliant Bill!!! Words are inadequate . . . .<br />Kathleen Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07645566938871914385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-18687394111779833632013-06-08T13:51:57.925+01:002013-06-08T13:51:57.925+01:00Thanks, Julia. I know you know exactly what I mean...Thanks, Julia. I know you know exactly what I mean.<br /><br />liebjabberings. I was exposed to so much of that sort of thing when I was an academic that I could almost write a computer program to generate it (that's if I knew how to write a computer program). Don't worry, I wouldn't want to spend much time with a character of mine who wrote or spoke like that.<br /><br />Chris, I'm nearly half way through your Missing Presumed Dead and it proves that your 'poor little brain' has some very deep, dark recesses.<br /><br />Thank you, Diane (and I know you know whereof you speak).<br /><br />They're the best ones, Reb - straight, to the point and just as powerful.<br />Bill Kirtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16345949773423764808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-49671499368838823512013-06-07T23:07:09.547+01:002013-06-07T23:07:09.547+01:00You're welcome, Bill. Now back to my hopeless ...You're welcome, Bill. Now back to my hopeless passion for one and two-beat words.glitter noirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11728649916344336118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-66596757270887490522013-06-07T20:01:48.557+01:002013-06-07T20:01:48.557+01:00In the beginning were the words ... and the words ...In the beginning were the words ... and the words were good.Diane Nelsonhttp://www.idancewithwords.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-27138385549869937202013-06-07T19:08:57.645+01:002013-06-07T19:08:57.645+01:00Oh, Bill! That's far too deep for my poor litt...Oh, Bill! That's far too deep for my poor little brain. I only understand words of 2 syllables!Chris Longmuirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02488093821886798927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-31047651959218676072013-06-07T18:30:20.271+01:002013-06-07T18:30:20.271+01:00For a moment I had the horrid thought you were exp...For a moment I had the horrid thought you were expecting - for some characterization point - readers in a NOVEL you were writing to plow (American spelling) through this paragraph to get to the story (although Nonchalant was a dead giveaway).<br /><br />Phew.<br /><br />If you WERE going to put it in a novel, I would suggest making it shorter - and clearly identifying is as a character's thoughts, etc., as quickly as possible.<br /><br />Like a snowdrift, it is possible to push through this sort of thing - but only if it isn't too long.<br /><br />OTOH, don't you find it frightening that you can WRITE such?<br />ABEAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-69334645358921630122013-06-07T14:13:33.798+01:002013-06-07T14:13:33.798+01:00"A bow wave of verbal pretence" - LOVE I..."A bow wave of verbal pretence" - LOVE IT!<br />julia joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09773900100240758504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-44701958902179171262013-06-07T13:45:34.222+01:002013-06-07T13:45:34.222+01:00Yes, Catherine, speaking as an ex-academic as well...Yes, Catherine, speaking as an ex-academic as well as an ex RLF Fellow, it's always exasperated me that academic literature (as well as university lectures) was (were) synonymous with incomprehensibility. They were the precursors of today's management-speak and Blairite policy-babble. At least when footballers et al do it, it's funny, e.g. 'He had no alternative but to make a needless tackle' or 'I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body'.Bill Kirtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16345949773423764808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-2895993591864372782013-06-07T10:38:37.892+01:002013-06-07T10:38:37.892+01:00Oh, Bill - so true! So thought-provoking. Anyone w...Oh, Bill - so true! So thought-provoking. Anyone who has worked on a Royal Lit Fund fellowship - you have, I have and I know other Electric Authors have - will recognise this instantly. I can't tell you how many of my students seemed to think that in order to do well, they had to use six long words where a single short one would have been perfectly good. This even extended to some of the essay questions. I used to sit and try to unpick them with the students. Sometimes they seemed deliberately designed to confuse. The really sad thing was that when essay topics were clear and simple, the students always suspected the lecturers of some trickery. 'It can't be that easy,' they would say, even when it was. Occasionally, when the question consisted of a whole paragraph of waffle, I would suggest that they go back to the academic who had framed it and politely ask him or her to explain exactly what it meant - and say I had sent them. I also used to think that the laudable attempt to avoid plagiarism sometimes lead to students (and academics too) joining the Office of Circumlocution in finding ever more ingenious ways of translating some perfectly clear sentence into a paragraph of nonsense. Catherine Czerkawskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14554969254207924049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-15119294398207661152013-06-07T10:38:32.590+01:002013-06-07T10:38:32.590+01:00Reb, I have no idea what you're suggesting but...Reb, I have no idea what you're suggesting but thanks.<br /><br />Lee, you're right - sloppy of me.<br /><br />Cally, what can I say? God bless rabbits, I guess. Thanks.Bill Kirtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16345949773423764808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-10455413753461298022013-06-07T10:26:15.772+01:002013-06-07T10:26:15.772+01:00Fantastic Bill. Brought back so many (happy?) memo...Fantastic Bill. Brought back so many (happy?) memories of the days when I pored through academic tomes which SEEMED to be as meaningless as this but were just written abstrusely in order to force ones brain to a deeper level of (yes, of what we ask?) Anyway, this certainly made me think. And more than that. Got me reaching for the 'click' button for Shadow Selves. You know me, I don't 'do' thrillers but previous conversations on here and elsewhere where folks talk about how it's not all about the 'murder' etc but about the character and you know what, I think I'm about ready to give Carston a try! Your WORDS have had a power to reach where other thriller writers have failed! (It may just be that I'm staking out rabbits who have got into my polytunnel that I'm in a 'murderous mood' but whatever - I'm going to download it and if the sun comes out again I'll sit in the sun and read it. So all your 'gibberish' has achieved a sale. I'm sure that will give you a decent laugh. Sometimes words won't do eh? Then, just LAUGH. CallyPhillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15481379296340077102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-71060748212770414082013-06-07T07:55:21.977+01:002013-06-07T07:55:21.977+01:00Words are hardly the only things that try to fix m...Words are hardly the <i>only</i> things that try to fix meaning in our chaos - what about photos, for example? music and dance? maths? Mind those words, please!Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770069472552779217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-51070712188899747072013-06-07T00:55:53.264+01:002013-06-07T00:55:53.264+01:00Bill, the super-annuated elongations of male critc...Bill, the super-annuated elongations of male critcality-minded thought purveyors out of touch with their inner womaninity has resulted from time immemoriam in delightful posts like this. Loved it!glitter noirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11728649916344336118noreply@blogger.com