eightbitsamurai for your sister
Gary ProvostThis sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important.
For my sister indeed. Although, sometimes my problem is that she sends messages to me that are too short. I had to coach her to not do things on FB messenger like: I was going to but then I wasn't sure like if it was worth it or not And so I decided LITTLE SISTER THAT COULD HAVE BEEN ONE SENTENCE. It's really just her going full on stream of consciousness. Told her to think about what words she wanted to use, and what she actually wants to say to me before she says it. She's much better bout it now...thankfully, haha.Ok so
This is true, but the constant notifications demands a headache out of me, haha. Well first of all, as I've said to Green before, flattery will get you anywhere ya want, lil. She's improved drastically as a writer since she entered her Junior HS year, but she's also great at everything, as far as I can tell. I think she's trying to choose between writing and science, however.I imagine facebook doesn't demand high levels of literacy.
People are on their phones now, and if I'm by myself and I need to "type" something large Thank god for google voiceWell first of all, as I've said to Green before, flattery will get you anywhere ya want, lil. She's improved drastically as a writer since she entered her Junior HS year, but she's also great at everything, as far as I can tell. I think she's trying to choose between writing and science, however.
Kurt Vonnegut taught me this. http://www.newyorkwritersintensive.com/morning-pages/kurt-vonneguts-8-rules-for-writing/
I have a question for you lil. Is it no longer proper to double space after a period? It used to be standard in formal writing but I have noticed that a lot of social websites will ignore a double space. Then I saw a post on a friend's FB account that said that the only people who still used it were hopelessly out of fashion. He's the editor of kind of a hip, young magazine. Just wondering what your thoughts are on the subject.
What is "proper" changes all the time, GorGor. Some people hold out for the way they learned it from their keyboard teachers in high school. Others will embrace the new and argue eloquently for why their way is better. They can argue all they like. Proper, in this case, is 100% personal preference. Some computer programs don't care and will suck out that extra space even if you type it in. I have put two spaces after every period in this comment, but I believe when the comment shoots up onto the page, those spaces will disappear. Publishers all have their own style guides. People who want to be published will submit works according to the preference of their publishers. My students can do what they want regarding spacing after periods, providing they are consistent. Right-margin justification screws up all the spacing anyway. Perhaps I'll write about that in due course. Perhaps I'll write about the myth of what is "proper" and "no longer proper." If all you have is 140 characters of text on your cell phone, you may not have the luxury of two spaces after your periods.
I'd used double space after a period since third grade until last year, when I installed Lyx, which is a LaTeX editing tool. It wouldn't let me do double spaces, and that surprised me because it didn't even occur to me I'd been doing it. I lived in Lyx for the next week or so just to try it out and try to typeset my homework in LaTeX, but I eventually decided I didn't like Lyx, so I gave up on it. But it "cured" me of my habit of two space typing forever... after just a couple days. I still think it's fascinating how easily such an ingrained habit could be wiped away with just a little bit of negative feedback.
It's the same for me. I noticed it years ago on most social media, but it wasn't until I saw that flippant FB post by my friend that I really thought about it. I have since stopped adding them in. It's a small thing but I think it's interesting the way that tech has influenced basic typed communication on that level.it's fascinating how easily such an ingrained habit could be wiped away with just a little bit of negative feedback.