The Most Brilliant Woman in the World
Business writer. Songwriter. Protecting creator's copyrights.
Imagine a fresh plate of steaming hot, crispy French Fries. The plate is set in front of you. Your taste buds are salivating eagerly and your fingers twitch with excitement. But before you can take one small morsel, the chef pulls out a box of salt and dumps half of it atop the potatoes.
What is your reaction?
Of course you recoil in horror. You yell, “Stop! Stop!”, but the chef says, “No. This is how I like to serve these. I don’t really care what you like,” and he continues to pour on the rest of the box of salt and soon you do not see the beautiful taters that you so looked forward to and that had been promised.
Sure, somewhere in that pile may be a fry or two that did not get any salt, but are you really going to go digging through it to find them?
Now imagine that same plate being set before you and the chef brings out a shaker and lightly dusts the potatoes with salt. Aha! You will hail the chef’s total genius in preparation and presentation and you will quickly dig in and enjoy.
Think of that plate of potatoes as your story and you are the chef. Are you “dumping a box of salt” atop your story so that the reader cannot see it?
Salt and interesting words/combinations in moderation make the taste of fries and stories pop. Too much of either ruins the very foundation of what the chef and writer serve to diners and readers.
What is your reaction?
Of course you recoil in horror. You yell, “Stop! Stop!”, but the chef says, “No. This is how I like to serve these. I don’t really care what you like,” and he continues to pour on the rest of the box of salt and soon you do not see the beautiful taters that you so looked forward to and that had been promised.
Sure, somewhere in that pile may be a fry or two that did not get any salt, but are you really going to go digging through it to find them?
Now imagine that same plate being set before you and the chef brings out a shaker and lightly dusts the potatoes with salt. Aha! You will hail the chef’s total genius in preparation and presentation and you will quickly dig in and enjoy.
Think of that plate of potatoes as your story and you are the chef. Are you “dumping a box of salt” atop your story so that the reader cannot see it?
Salt and interesting words/combinations in moderation make the taste of fries and stories pop. Too much of either ruins the very foundation of what the chef and writer serve to diners and readers.
Yet we find certain chefs and writers do not care what their diners and readers want — that is, something enjoyable — and insist on torturing the same.
Just as diners don't want to — nay, will not! — dig through a pile of salt-covered potatoes to find one they can eat and that might fill their tummy, readers do not want to — nay, readers will not! — search through thousands upon thousands of words to find the few that carry the story.
Allow your readers opportunity to hail your writing by employing this one simple secret to good writing: Go easy on the salt.
Allow your readers opportunity to hail your writing by employing this one simple secret to good writing: Go easy on the salt.
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