“Because God has spoken, and the rest is just commentary.” January 20, 2009

I’ve been examining my writing style and trying to improve writing in a way that sounds like a conversation.  A book that came to mind when i thought of conversation-style writing was “Sex God” by Rob Bell (well, “Velvet Elvis” is also a good example of this). Bell rarely writes long sentences with big words. He writes in a way that any Joe Schmo can understand.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons his books are so appealing.

Not only that, but just by reading his book you can hear his personality come through. Maybe the reason for this is because I’ve heard him speak, but regardless, his writing matches his speaking. Not only do I think so, but most everyone who reads his book (with whom I talk to) have agreed with this.

Simple. Clean. Easy to read and understand.

Apart from that point, I strongly believe that ANY communication major should read Sex God (no its not all about sex) because Bell discusses that we should present ourselves in a way that brings good into the world and not evil.

And yes, that was a shameless plug.

But I have found that even in fictional stories by my favorite authors, there are times when even the dialogue does not seem conversation-style.  Sometimes I find myself reading a line over and over because it just doesn’t seem to make sense.

So in my everyday writing I’m going to try to improve my conversational appeal, so to speak.

But seriously, read that book. It will change  your mind on alot of things. Even communication.

Writing “Funny” January 13, 2009

We’ve been writing a treatment and pitch for hours now about a television sitcom for my class studio production.

Its consuming my life.

But as I sit here, a fear  creeps into my head that has been since we started this whole project.

I’m afraid I can’t write “funny”.

I can come up with a million characters and a million plots and conflicts and dialogue but writing funny does not come naturally. I read scripts from The Dick Van Dyke show, Mary Tyler Moore, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, and even in reading the scripts I find myself laughing.

But me? Writing “funny”?

I think out of the day I laugh more than I do anything else. I grew up around sarcasm; my family dinners were always hysterical. I can crack jokes here and there, but to write funny is truly an art.

And I’m beginning to fear that I’m a crappy painter.

So my prayer is that as this semester progresses, somehow the natural juices will flow and the funny will just… come.

Returning the Favor January 6, 2009

I’m not big into car commercials, but whoever wrote the commercial for the new Cadillac was a genius.

Car commercials never stay in my head. But the line that says “The question is, when you turn your car on, does it return the favor?” has stuck in my mind for months now. Pure genius.  What is it about this statement? I have no idea. Really, its simple, clean, attractive.  And I’d say that’s saying something from a girl who doesn’t enjoy car commercials.