The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #104248 Message #2132400
Posted By: Little Hawk
23-Aug-07 - 09:38 PM
Thread Name: BS: What are the absolutes of good writing?
Subject: RE: BS: What are the absolutes of good writing?
1. Bloviate excessively, making sure to use as many exotic and arcane words as you possibly can. Use really BIG words and really RARE words. This will stun the reader with awe at your knowledge and erudition.
2. Elaborate, elaborate, elaborate! I cannot stress this too highly. Where a word or two will suffice, a veritable flood of them is always better.
3. Use the word "like" as often as possible, even when you're not sure if, like, it should be there. (Example: "I'm like, whatever!" exclaimed Sir Walter Raleigh to the Queen. "He's like, whatever," said the Queen later that evening to her minister of justice. "I'm like, chop off his, head!" "I'm like, consider it done," replies the minister, licking his, like, lips with anticipation. "I'm like, scuppered!" exclaims Sir Walter, as they, like, haul him off in chains to the, like, Tower.)
Note: That is how young people talk nowadays. I was sitting next to a table of 20-somethings today at the Sushi bar, and I swear, they were talking just like that! I swan! ;-) So if you want your writing to appeal to younger people, use "like" at least once in every sentence.
4. Make verbs out of nouns. Make nouns out of verbs. NEVER use adverbs, just replace them with adjectives.
5. Hyphenate frequently. Hyphenated words carry much more authority than non-hyphenated words do.
6. Make sure that all your plural's have apostrophe's. It's not good grammar to use an apostrophe in a plural, but it is popular, and popularity is what really matters in this world. Fuck grammar! Go for popular acceptance every time. Examples: CD's, shoe's, pickle's, 1900's, walruse's.
7. Use popular, well-known buzzword's and phrase's, like....
"Let's run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes!" "let's take the ball and run with it!" "I don't want to see anyone drop the ball!" "Money talks, bullshit walks!" "Now, let's get out there and kick ass!" "You go, girl!" "Have you mistaken me for someone who cares?"
Your casual and jaunty use of these clever contemporary phrases will show all that you are a mover and a shaker, a person on the inside track, definitely someone to be taken seriously in today's competitive environment.