more questions: Gabriel Oak, and playful language
Revonda asked on the (defunct) forum boards:
Are we going to find out the meaning of Gabriel's notation from MacBeth under the picture he drew of Elizabeth's mother? I haven't read MacBeth in years, not since I attempted to teach it to 9th graders who just couldn't understand why the characters talked "so funny." So, I'm rereading it now--in an attempt to unravel the clue.Now see, I'd say that's going beyond the call of duty. I'm very impressed that Revonda should go re-read MacBeth just to figure out my little hint. I'm hoping in the meantime she's read Fire Along the Sky, which will answer her question (at least in part). Because of course I can't come out and tell you; what's the fun in that? And to turn the tables: anybody know where I got the name Gabriel Oak? It's a tribute to a particular character in a particular novel.
Pam had a few questions, which I'll now try to take in bite sized bits:
Waddaya think of mixed metaphors or invented euphemisms that don't work? Wordplay, I guess. Is it pretentious, irreverent, or is it essential to the development of our language? Also - and this is personal (so I'll post it on a blog, hah)- I just returned to work from a mat leave and have found I'm now responsible to write articles for the company magazine. How do you handle criticism from an editor you barely know - or is that better than one you do know? Should I get to know her better? Have you addressed this before, and if so - please point so I can click. Keep up the good fight.Mixed metaphors and wordplay are hard to do well, and mostly have to be restricted to very limited use in dialogue. Remember this basic rule: you're creating a fiction bubble, and drawing attention to the language itself is like throwing a dart at that bubble.
You've got a character who wallows in malapropisms, you may make the reader pay attention to the wrong things. I know this problem because my father was an ace when it came to this stuff, and I'm always tempted to use his malapropisms when I write about him -- but usually they don't work.
Now, if you're talking about wordplay off the page, in the spoken language -- of course. Language is always flexing its muscle, changing, growing. We play with language as we use it. All good and necessary. My motto is, play with your morphology, see what new words pop up. I kept track of new coinages when I was a faculty member. One of my favorites was babe-age as in "Check out the babe-age!" I don't think that one has stuck in general usage, but there are other new words being bandied about that will. Jump in, it's fun.
As to working with a new editor: As this is non-fiction you're going to be writing, there's less room for you to beat your chest and announce with great drama that you are an artist. You will have to figure out the tone of the publication and the culture of the place that produces it, and yes, you need to get to know the editor better. Just sit down and have a conversation. Ask him or her how they like to go about editing, if they have any conventions you should know about, what they look for in a well written piece. Stick to talking about work related writing, if you can.