Dueling Keyboards - The Minimalist Vs the Blowhard | Eastern North Carolina Now

    I am always trying to improve my writing skills and vocabulary. I have an online-illustrated thesaurus that I use to look up words and find suitable synonyms to replace words and make it appear that the author is a highly educated man with a deep understanding of the English language. Since most of my posts are about personal experiences and opinions the old thesaurus provides some good substitutes for certain words that I constantly repeat in my post. I have yet to find a good substitute for the word "I", which "I" am told "I" may overuse. See this for an example See this for an example of the overuse of "I".

   One of the writing techniques that I have learned but not applied is found at various sites about writing.

    "Don't give your inner critic a chance to get a word in with two effective writing techniques: free falling and free writing.

• Free falling is a writing technique that involves zooming your word document down so you can't make out the words (40% usually does the job) or turning off your computer monitor so there's a black screen. Once you've made sure that the cursor is placed in the word document then you start writing.
• Free writing involves setting your timer for a set period of time (e.g. 20 minutes) and writing down whatever thoughts come to mind. If you can't think of what to write, write "I can't think of what to write". If your mind goes blank then all you need to do is write "Blah blah blah blah...". The aim of the game is to keep your hand moving until the 20 minutes is up".

    These were of no help since about 80% of my post use one or both techniques. Another technique is found at another site: Cut Out 10% of Your Words

    "Once you're broadly happy with the shape and flow of your piece, it's time to cut. Most writers over-write: we use more words than we need, and we weaken our argument or story in the process".

    Naturally, I ignored that last bit of advice as any reader of my articles can attest. I finally hit on the idea of trying a Minimalist approach. The first thing I did of course is look up "MINIMALIST" in my illustrated online thesaurus. Here is what I found using synonym and antonym.

    Minimalist

TMAC

   Synonym

• Clean
• Unadulterated
• Austere
• Spartan
• Discreet
• Plain
• Restrained
• Simple
• Stark
• Uncluttered
• Understated
• Unfussy

Blowhard

BOBBY TONY

    Antonym

• Affected
• Exaggerated Conceited
• Fake
• Hollow
• Ostentatious
• Pompous
• Pretentious
• Showy
• Embellished
• Lavish
• Ornate
• Outlandish

    Well, it was worth the try, so I guess I will just go back to my normal writing style. Ramble, Ramble, Ramble and let the reader do the editing. For the record, I have applied none of these suggestions to this post. Simple Steps for editing your own work. Thanks for your help with this post.
   

Written by Bobby Tony
    Edited by _________
    Enter your name above.