![]() This captures my point in 3 words more accurately than this entire post (talk about verbosity, Palma!). My favorite agency tag line is 84 years old, McCann-Erickson’s “ Truth Well Told”. What does all this have to do with advertising? I read a lot of “agency positioning” stuff.Everyone seems to have a new tag line for their agency: “Rethink Everything”, “The Factory”, “Brand Storytellers”, “Ideas for the New Whatever”. I’m not knocking the first three records, but it’s instructive to see how the writer evolved from an ebullient romantic to a disciplined realist. Darkness On the Edge of Town, The River, and Nebraska, with their minimalist, austere and stripped-down lyrics are works of a disciplined writer. But with his next three albums, he grew as a poet and did what all great writers learn to do: SAY MORE WITH LESS. ![]() I like some of those songs, they’re good. Clearly, a young, ambitious (and somewhat narcissistic) writer trying really hard (maybe too hard) to be a poet. His first three albums are verbose beyond immediate assimilation. To illustrate the point of verbosity versus description, let’s take a quick look at Bruce Springsteen’s writing. This is why they are often monikered as “eclectic” - as if they don’t fit in to society. They distill amazement from the minutiae. Writing style begins with a sensitivity to the human spirit and condition. It is acquired through experience by reading, listening, observing. It is learned in diners and train stations. Style derives from acumen and attention to detail. That will get you through college, but it won’t win you the Pulitzer prize - or even a One Show Pencil. Even if you are a walking thesaurus, you are still not a gifted, stylish writer. Don’t confuse description with verbosity. Narcissistic writers reveal themselves - their verbosity overwhelms the narrative, or the lyric, or the ad. You can write like Bob Dylan, but you can never be Bob Dylan. Style is distinctively original and inimitable (yet entire industries thrive by mimicking it). These are some of the elements of style - but they are not style itself. Style repels definition - it relies on grace, color detail and description. That’s like trying to describe the color red to a blind person (there you go! make language new). How does one define style, then? That’s a bit like trying to catch lightning in a bottle (eek, what a cliché!). Sure, Dylan can write songs, but what makes them good lyrically? What makes Howard Gossagespecial? What makes an Updike novel an Updike novel? Well, it’s the same thing that made Twiggy a sensation, and Jackie O an institution: STYLE. It begs the question, “What makes a writer a good writer?” I keep going back to Auden’s quote, but that too lacks instructiveness. Long dismissed by the high-waisted, khaki-wearing academic set as “50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice” - yet, just the title itself, The Elements of Style, strikes a chord in me. Revolutionaries make great writers - I regularly read Fidel Castro’s weekly column, Reflections. Actually, one of the most compelling works I’ve ever read is the Unabomber’s Manifesto. It can be an essay (“ Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu”) or journalism. When a great narrative meets original style, you have a masterpiece, like The Great Gatsby. It reminded me of Kerouac, in that each page was exciting - not so much for the narrative - but for the language and the style. But, when I first read Jay McInerny’s Bright Lights, Big City in the mid-80’s, I finally grasped what Auden meant. Or, I understood it on an academically superficial level. This reminded me that we are not to confuse topical or entertaining content with good writing.Īs Auden said so well, “It is the duty of the writer to make language new” (I know, I beat that line into the ground, but it’s the best one I’ve ever heard about writing). The subjects are interesting and occasionally fascinating but the prose itself lacks a certain craft - a style. Neither book is terrifically well-written nor riveting. And I’m now beginning the new Mickey Mantle book by Jane Leavy. I just finished, Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It To the Revolution. Without writers, what would we read? Lately, I’ve taken to buying and reading books on my iPad. Yes, writers are a peculiar and dwindling lot. So we’ll give our readership more of what it seems to want. Of my 38 posts, it’s been the most heavily re-tweeted. Due to the popularity of the post, “On Writers, Copywriting and How to Build a Portfolio”, I’ve decided to continue on the theme.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |