I've begun translating some short film ideas I've had for awhile into short story format. Since I originally developed these ideas as films, I had very specific direction, actions and sets in mind. In the translation process, I sometimes find it difficult to describe my original visions without falling into rhetoric. Not the good definition of, "Skill in using language effectively and persuasively," but, "Language that is elaborate, pretentious, insincere, or intellectually vacuous." This is where the unschooled writer's best friend comes into play: the thesaurus. But it's easy to get carried away. With this in mind, let's experiment with translating bad rhetoric into even worse rhetoric:
"It was a dark and stormy night."
"The small hours were morose and hostile."
"A long time ago."
"An aeon has agone."
"Once upon a time."
"An erstwhile experience has slipped away."
Huh. I think I turned bad rhetoric good! Of course I can be intellectually vacuous at times.
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1 comment:
you need to post more often!
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