Whether we’re writing fiction, non-fiction, poetry, articles, or blogs, the goal is for our writing to be so riveting that the reader takes the offering that we are giving them in the form of our story or our content, and remember it long after their eyes lift from the page.
Have you ever noticed how one person can write about a topic and you are so bored that you want to throw the book down and go watch TV? And yet another author could write about the exact same subject and you are immersed and completely engrossed.
What makes one better than the other? I always love looking behind the curtain and understanding what authors do to create this experience.
The power of unexpected language
One of the things that I’ve noticed over and over again is that the authors who keep us riveted are using language in a way that is unexpected. There’s an element of surprise, which is delightful to our minds. These authors are willing to write the things that most people are afraid to say, and being able to reveal the not-so-pretty truth of what someone’s thinking is a comfort to those who have similar thoughts that aren’t viewed as acceptable in polite society. There’s an element of disclosure, deep candor and honesty in successful writing.
The idea of surprising with language involves using interesting metaphors or similes or taking a unique stance in looking at something. You can make anything incredibly compelling when you say it in an unexpected way and you reveal some sort of truth.
Try using your words to represent and be the subtext for deeper tensions and unsaid emotions.
Case study: legos and rosaries
“The Souvenir Museum,” a collection of short stories by Elizabeth McCracken, is one of my favorite books I have read this year. In one story the author writes about a boy and his Legos, which is a very domestic scene that could be considered kind of bland, yet she does it in such a way that it serves to build his character. The boy had visited the Legoland Billund Resort, the original Legoland park in Denmark, and he was disappointed. She writes:
“He did not dream in Lego. Not anymore. But sometimes he still raked his hand through the bins of it beneath his bed as a kind of rosary to remind himself that the world, like Lego, was solid and mutable both.”
There is the simile that he raked his hand through the Legos like a rosary. “Raking” is an unusual verb to describe something you do with your hands. McCracken is revealing character: He was passionate about this toy and the creativity that it unlocked, but now he’s in transition between being a little kid and a bigger kid. However, he still finds some comfort in the Legos, like one might in holding a rosary.
This is an amazing example of the delight of a simile or metaphor when used as an unexpected juxtaposition.
This week I challenge you to write about something mundane: filling a glass of water or a bush. Approach it as McCracken did with the boy and the Legos, and use one unusual verb to describe a character interacting with the object, and then come up with a simile or metaphor that is unexpected to reveal something deeper about the character in relation to that object.
I can’t wait to see what you come up with!