tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post5271094847385459194..comments2023-12-30T17:31:11.883+00:00Comments on The Solitary Walker: Wow, What A Stunning View!The Solitary Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-61998521225440643882010-01-01T11:17:03.094+00:002010-01-01T11:17:03.094+00:00Thanks very much for your long comment, Tramp. No,...Thanks very much for your long comment, Tramp. No, experiences can never be truly recreated by writing, poetry, art, anecdotes, blogs etc. What these activities do is create a 'new' experience inspired by the 'old' one, or, to put it another way, a metaphor for the 'old' experience!<br /><br />I'll pass on your remarks to Nature on my next visit.The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-36210052038783108962009-12-31T18:27:09.059+00:002009-12-31T18:27:09.059+00:00Together with the previous piece very thought-prov...Together with the previous piece very thought-provoking. Is it possible for a writer to exactly recreate their experience for me, the humble reader? I don’t think so, any more than I can exactly recreate the moving experience I had of last week’s sunset here. Part of what I experienced was brought on by my state of mind at the time.<br />What I personally get from reading other people’s descriptions of their interpretations of the nature that they experience is inspiration for me to look at nature and interpret it in my own way.<br /><br />Was it Alice through the looking glass or in Wonderland who coined “when I use a word it means what I want it to mean”? For people whose first language is not English the difference between intended meaning and understood meaning can be more problematic. Part of my life is spent teaching English here in the Czech Republic (would it be more romantic to say Bohemia?). In English Czechs will often use the word “nature” in the sense of the word in Czech, which as well as the system of things can also be a place you can visit. “Last weekend I went to the nature” is a sentence I often hear or read and I am quick to point out to the offender that this as a misuse of the word. After reading the piece you included from Thoreau, perhaps I should broaden my understanding of the word. <br /><br />Thanks for making me think. Happy New Year and get out there and visit Nature and tell him/her/it that I sent you. <br /><br />Hope this comment arrives. Ihave tried to send it earlier but I'm new to driving this thing.Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10367405984066895755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-9816065157655882962009-12-31T16:36:56.070+00:002009-12-31T16:36:56.070+00:00Thanks for all these comments...
Grizzled, that w...Thanks for all these comments...<br /><br />Grizzled, that was a tour-de-force of a comment! Thanks so much for taking the time and trouble (hell, another cliché!)<br /><br />I agree with pretty much all you say. And what you say, you say so well - as always. Clichés (a loose term, isn't it - when does a familiar, much-loved expression become the rather more derogatory 'cliché'?) are the very coin and foundation of our everyday language. Without them we'd have no conversation, no magazines, no newspapers, no genre fiction - and no blogs! (No love life either - as per your example!) They are the oil which lubricates our day to day discourse (yuk, sounds vaguely unpleasant, that!)<br /><br />I think my post here was meant as aspirational - I really do want to improve my writing... Often, I find, the best descriptions arise out of what is left out rather than all the details that are crammed in. And from recounting what is actually there in front of us (surprisingly much more difficult than we might think) - in concrete terms, in metaphorical terms, howsoever - as accurately as possible, rather than resorting to bland stop-gap adjectives such as 'wonderful', 'marvellous' etc.<br /><br />Thanks again for such great comments, Rebecca and Grizzled. Happy New Year to you both - and to you, too, Weaver.The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-44712399823338596142009-12-30T18:51:15.217+00:002009-12-30T18:51:15.217+00:00Here's wishing you all a very happy new year R...Here's wishing you all a very happy new year Robert.The Weaver of Grasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-78607624314311476712009-12-30T15:07:40.623+00:002009-12-30T15:07:40.623+00:00Good adjectives are keys to good, descriptive writ...Good adjectives are keys to good, descriptive writing, for sure. And they aren't easy to come by sometimes. Which, I suppose, is why the tried, true, and tired ones get used so often. I'm as guilty as anyone, BTW.<br /><br />The problem is, there's a fine line between finding that one perfect adjective you rarely see/hear, and an adjective that's so odd or archaic that your writing seems amateurish, affected, laughably ornate.<br /> <br />Sometimes, too, the familiar cliché is still the best word. Clichés get to be clichés because they're useful words; they don't stop being useful—and appropriate—because they're clichés.<br /><br />In the end, for me it often simply comes down to time (which sometimes translates to money) and whether I want craft each and every sentence I commit to paper to the best of my creative talent and editorial abilities, or whether I'll settle for simply getting certain bits of basic, communicative writing done and then moving on. <br /><br />One of the marks of good writing, I think, is that a piece doesn't necessarily draw attention to itself as being "well written." Instead, it simply leaves the reader feeling and seeing whatever it was you were writing about, "knowing" the experience as if were their own. It's akin to good special effects in a movie…the best ones are so real you can't tell they're not. It's only when you go back and read for construction rather than content that you realize how well done the piece was. <br /><br />That said, good writing ought to then carry the personality and "voice" of the writer, a certain style. You can't make up a style, though you can imitate the style of other writers. But sooner or later, if you write a lot, you find a voice or style of your own. It's like becoming an accomplished musician…you begin by learning to play the instrument; then you start learning to play like musicians you admire; finally, you take bits of this and that, throw the rest away, and play like yourself—and as you progress from that point onward, you develop, codify, and master your own unique style/voice.<br /><br />In a way, your description of Camino roads is a description of clichés—worn, tested by time, familiar to all, a direct route from point A to point B…and still capable of doing their job. When the lady of your life steps into the room all dressed up and ready to go out, and says, "How do I look?"—you might want to take the time to cast about for that perfect adjective…or you might just tell her she's lovely, beautiful, delicious, gorgeous, stunning (pick your cliché), say and mean it with all your heart, and thereupon find a thesaurus unnecessary.<br /><br />[BTW, none of this is meant to discourage you from implementing your resolution—although you write really well already. Just playing a bit of devil's advocate. I wear out the same dozen or so adjectives every week and have to keep reordering replacement copies.]Grizz…………https://www.blogger.com/profile/04828454689578685330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-62069696997786413812009-12-30T11:10:29.914+00:002009-12-30T11:10:29.914+00:00Isnt that so true.
I was searching for words to...Isnt that so true. <br /><br />I was searching for words to describe what I had seen each day and all the words that came to mind seemed rather lame and not do justice to how I had felt and what I had experienced as I stood surrounded by the sights (the lovely, the mundane, and the ugly). <br /><br />Perhaps that is why I resort to photography in the hope that I can capture, and convey what I had seen, and felt. <br /><br />Maybe, with the combination of words and pictures, I can express myself better. <br /><br />"Communicating" with another is not so difficult, but conveying what one had felt or experienced is not at all easy.<br /><br />Buen Camino, SW, and I hope to read about your 'indescribable' experinces as you make your journey.Rebeccahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02328928361818690097noreply@blogger.com