I’m no expert, but I believe there’s a consensus that language evolved as a primitive communication tool. Early humans could shorthand information to each other about approaching danger, where the the hunting was good, and so on.
Language came into being first to serve commercial and clerical purposes, not so that we could render, in words, our deepest emotions–”I love you,” or “the sweet tilt of your nose conjures the ache of youth, lost Paris, time beyond reach.”
(I almost added “the way we were,”but that would been plagiarism).
The truth is, when we write fiction, we’re using tools originally designed for grosser, more matter-of-fact tasks. Yet for that very reason, when we do it right, we come up with effects of unexpected emotional power. In Cremona, in the 18h century, there were two great violin makers, Stradivari and Guarneri….
Stradivari was well-organized and abstemious (a tool for everything and every tool in its place). Guarneri was slovenly and a drunkard. In jail a lot of the time, he was allowed to practice his craft but had to bribe his jailors for tools. Often, all he had was the type of tool designed for basic carpentry work. The “brand” Stradivarius has become synonomous with the highest possible quality in a violin, and true “Strads” are worth millions. But guess whose violins are preferred by most concert soloists? Guarneri’s. Why? Using primitive tools, he had no choice but to turn out a violin with a big, powerful tone, able to reach the farthest corners of any concert hall.
Okay, that metaphor may or may not have reached your farthest corners, but here’s the point: if you want big, powerful, far reaching emotional effects from language, you must work against its historic grain–informational–and instead exploit its ability to deliver sensory descriptions of specific images, gestures, behaviors, feelings, emotions, sounds, smells, and on and on.
(Specific effects) minus (Village Explainer interpretation) = good fiction.
And traditionally, we are not taught to write that way.
Click for The Village Explainer – Part 1…and Part 3
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