Writing: The Most Powerful Multimedia Tool Ever Invented

Lasar’s U2 a great writer With 8 (or so) EZ rules!

Writing is the most powerful form of multimedia ever invented • Words + your God; cannibalism; Paris Hilton; Iraq; love; Snoop Doggy Dog; Shakespeare; mother; wuddever . . .

Writing is the most powerful multimedia tool ever invented “Mrs. Daughtry walked into the living room. There on the sofa sat young Alvin the accountant, with a confident expression on his face.” Words + your

Writing is the most powerful multimedia tool ever invented “Mrs. Daughtry walked into the living room. There on the sofa sat young Lars the pool boy, with a confident expression on his face.” Words + your

“In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.” • George Orwell, 1946

"I believe in killing off your opponents when you can get good results by doing so."

"While freely conceding that the Soviet regime exhibits certain features which the humanitarian may be inclined to deplore, we must, I think, agree that a certain curtailment of the right to political opposition is an unavoidable concomitant of transitional periods, and that the rigors which the Russian people have been called upon to undergo have been amply justified in the sphere of concrete achievement."

Fuzzy language today • “Enhanced interrogation techniques” • “Preemptive strike” • “Introduction of defensive weapons” • “Budget correction” • “Market correction”

Orwell: language really matters • “Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it.” • But Orwell thinks that’s not true . . .

Orwell: language really matters • “If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself.”

Why do people fear writing? • Afraid that they will be wrong about something. • Afraid that they will be a bad writer. • Afraid that they don’t have anything to say.

Don’t be afraid . . . • Write!

1. Avoid the “to be” verbs • “is”“was”“are”“were” • Activity, not existence, defines life • Make your subjects do things

Marvin Gaye: “I heard it through the grape vine.” • Your typical UCSC student: “It was heard by me through the grape vine.”

2. Use simpler words • Why use “interrelated” or “interconnected” when you can use “related” or “connected”? • Can you tell the difference between a “diametrical opposite” and an “opposite”? • Why say “utilize” when you can say “use”?

3. Use shorter sentences • It was May of 1979 and all the good feelings — the vibrations, the groove — of the shimmering bright era that had sustained her through every failure and disappointment had dwindled and winnowed and faded til she was angry all the time, angry at Toby for leaving her, angry at her daughter, angry at her boss and the landlord who wanted two hundred fifty bucks a month for a dreary clamshell-gray walkup over a take-out pizza shop on Route 1 in downtown Oxnard, where the fog hung like death over everything and the trucks never stopped spewing diesel fumes outside the window, which might as well have been nailed shut for all the air it gave her. – T.C. Boyle, When the Killing’s Done

4. Do not use cliches • “The café was a mecca for local artists and intellectuals.” • “It was the mother of all party battles.” • “Having spent his political capital, Grover Cleveland would now have to pay the electoral piper.” • “Descartes began to think outside the box.”

Existential Problematize Text Binary opposition Deconstruct Discursive Subjectivities Intervention 5. Do not use jargon “I submit this intervention to problematize the subjectivities inherent in the text, paradigmatic of the contemporary discourse on global warming.”

Synergy Monetize Paradigm Why would you want to “monetize” your Web site? Wouldn’t you rather make money from it? 5b. Bu$ine$$ jargon

5c. Political jargon • game changer • deal breaker • quintessential • family values • values voters • turn coat • dog and pony show

6. Start your essay with an interesting first sentence • No: “The economy affects our lives on a daily basis.” • Yes: “Until recently economists assumed the Crash of 1929 caused the Great Depression, but now they question that theory.” • Tell your reader something that they do not know in the first sentence

7. Let your reader know what you will do on the first page of your essay • Interesting first sentence or two, then . . . • “This essay will explore George Orwell’s 1949 novel 1984. I argue that although the book represented a critique of Soviet socialism, it also posed a challenge to British society. The novel implicitly questioned England’s rigid class system and its continued reliance on Victorian sexual standards.”

8. How to become a better writer • Write every day • Keep a diary • Start a Web log (blog) • Get friends to critique and proof your work

Structure of your paper • Introduce your conspiracy theory and your argument (and why the subject matters). • Describe your theory. • Describe the context using secondary sources and your course books. • Your conclusion should recapitulate your main argument and the significance of your subject.

Don’t overuse text blocks Don’t overuse quotes Use quotes for emphasis and drama Use your own words

Great ways to get a C to F in this paper • Hand it in late. • Don’t check your spelling or grammar. • Plagiarize. • Misspell your subject’s name. • Misspell my name (Matthew Lasar) • Quote me in the paper (this is a research paper, not a feedback loop)

Don’t forget! • This is a paper about context. • Don’t try to prove or disprove a conspiracy theory.

Writing: The Most Powerful Multimedia Tool Ever Invented