Whether it’s Writing or Calling for Help, the Right Tone is Critical
Posted: Monday, October 17, 2011
by Ken McCreless
RMS1437
Greetings Fellow Travelers…
“Yea, I’m sorry. I cut myself pretty badly on the table saw and I need to go to the hospital.”
And that’s how my wife Janie found out I had injured myself. I made it a point to use a tone that would not get her too worried- just worried enough to come home quickly. This happened several years ago, and I still have the x-ray. I would show it to you–it is cool–but not at all important to my article.
I had already called my son to come over and bring all of my tools inside and lock them up, and cleaned up all the blood from the dining room floor before Janie made it home. The third finger on my right hand, the one next to the pinky, is squared off at the end and sometimes hurts when it’s cold.
Writing, on the other hand, is a bit harder to get that perfect tone- but not impossible.
Teach yourself to see words as having temperature. Think of how differently a word looks like in different fonts. The same effect can be achieved by combining words that are different but have the same meaning. Such as:
“I need to eat lettuce for my health.”
“I’m sick, since I never eat lettuce.”
“That cheese sure has me corked up. I should eat better stuff- like lettuce.”
See what I mean? We went from a sterile, cold, textbook style to a coarse, uncouth, unappealing series of words.
Another:
“The Cowboys did it again!?”
“Jerry Jones should be exiled to Canada.”
“Tom Landry, where are you?”
OK, so I digress- back to the article. Here’s one more example.
“Who’s playing? Oh yea, still ‘locked out.’”
“I wonder what they’re doing with the AT&T Center these days.”
“Does Tim Duncan watch more cartoons than Manu Ginobili?”
Can you feel the tone? Can you discern the temperature of the words, the message?
Herman Cain vs. Rick Perry. Hmmmm……………………………………
“Yea, I’m sorry. I cut myself pretty badly on the table saw and I need to go to the hospital.”
And that’s how my wife Janie found out I had injured myself. I made it a point to use a tone that would not get her too worried- just worried enough to come home quickly. This happened several years ago, and I still have the x-ray. I would show it to you–it is cool–but not at all important to my article.
Writing, on the other hand, is a bit harder to get that perfect tone- but not impossible.
Teach yourself to see words as having temperature. Think of how differently a word looks like in different fonts. The same effect can be achieved by combining words that are different but have the same meaning. Such as:
“I need to eat lettuce for my health.”
“I’m sick, since I never eat lettuce.”
“That cheese sure has me corked up. I should eat better stuff- like lettuce.”
See what I mean? We went from a sterile, cold, textbook style to a coarse, uncouth, unappealing series of words.
Another:
“The Cowboys did it again!?”
“Jerry Jones should be exiled to Canada.”
“Tom Landry, where are you?”
OK, so I digress- back to the article. Here’s one more example.
“Who’s playing? Oh yea, still ‘locked out.’”
“I wonder what they’re doing with the AT&T Center these days.”
“Does Tim Duncan watch more cartoons than Manu Ginobili?”
Can you feel the tone? Can you discern the temperature of the words, the message?
Herman Cain vs. Rick Perry. Hmmmm……………………………………
Ken McCreless is just a guy who loves to write, and was born to do so. He is a freelance writer with several projects ongoing, including books and magazines. A huge fan of both irony and history, Ken has dedicated his life and his writing to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
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