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Have you ever read a particular piece from any author and thought, "This doesn't feel the same as their work did several pages back"? You pick up on their writing vibe during those pages of situations and now, here they are coming across in a slightly different manner. Could it be as simple as a different writing day? Some days you have a good hair day, some are not so good. Surely, that holds true when you sit down to continue on with the same story. You gotta go to where you left off, remember all of the past specifics, think about the direction and specifics of where you planned to go with it (unless you're writing it freestyle spontaneously), and take off from there. But what if something has changed? Say, you're a bit more limited on time for this writing session. Can you let the creative juices really stew as you write? Perhaps you don't feel so good? You're fighting off a sinus cold and even though you are chugging along with your story, actually getting into the zone of it ... in the back of your psyche you have a minuscule distraction that keeps mind and body at odds. Does it show in what you write? Enough to obviously contrast with what you wrote five pages back? Ten? Everything you've wrote up to this point? Suppose it's not a physical demon that taunts your creative warrior? There are many things going on in your life right now and they have got you in a slump. Problems with the significant other. Battling with the children. You just don't feel very appreciated and the bottom of a bottle just isn't quite doing the trick anymore. What if you are writing through anxiety or depression? You try and you try to pull the words out of thin air (which you actually do) and you slap them down on paper or click them into existence on you keyboard and hit save. You go back later to take a look at them and think , wow, what jived here? But, what if you don't consciously go back to take that look? What if it's your reader that notices it? Can they? Have you? What if it's them that wonders about the author for a moment? They take one small second out of their reading journey and think about why the words vibe felt just a little ... different today. Maybe it could be attributed to the reader's vibe and not the author's. The reader is feeling a bit, Ehh. and what he reads gets distorted by his mood. But if the reader doesn't attribute it to themselves and it is obvious that it came from the writer ... does it make a sound in the woods?
So, I ask you, as you read these words before you, right now, what vibe do you get from them/me? Would you think me to be a little sad, possibly depressed? Or would you think me to be simply touching on subject matter for my blog? My actual point would require a greater amount of content prior to this moment and a greater amount following to make that a fair question. Supposing your opinion was that of my first suggestion (because you had actually read greater content prior and following before addressing the question) ... would you have even thought that of me had I not asked you? Would you have even cared? Should you? It's just a story and and the writer did their part and when you read it you're doing your part. Does it even need to be anything more? Did you think that this post would ask you a million and one questions? (Haha) To sum up everything I've previously written here into one single question is have you ever read a particular piece from any author and thought, "This doesn't feel the same as their work did several pages back? Of course you have. You might not have given it much more than a single second before moving on but you probably have. Whether you consciously picked up on it or not.
This tick in writing can be snakebite for an author, in my personal opinion. It may not kill you but can hurt you. It is something I have actually noticed in things I've written. I have paid attention to it and decided to backtrack and clean up my vibal discrepancies. Can we use both of those last two words conjoined in literary acceptance? Do they work? Close enough for me. It might not be the absolute Queen's English but hey, who cares, right?
(SQUIRREL MOMENT)
You may have heard someone mention the phrase before, 'the Queens' English,' but have you ever actually read anything and thought, That's not how the queen would have said it? Why would you? Read dialog between people in any book, that's how we speak. As strange as it might look in written form sometimes, that's us. OK, back to basics, leaving the squirrel alone.
I'm sure vibal discrepancies is not a detrimental enough writing tick that it would sink the storyline, just muddy the waters a little. The reader can filter out the mucky sludge and keep reading.
An interesting thought comes to mind. What about reverse vibal discrepancies? Well, I'm not sure 'reverse' would be a fair way of describing it, based on how some might interpret the meaning of reverse to this point. Let's redirect the thought. What about the opposite vibal discrepancy? I know you're asking, "What the hell is the difference, Bain?" Glad you called me on it. We can't have miscommunication running amuck, amuck, amuck.
(SQUIRREL MOMENT, to the second power)
OK, just gotta point out why I wrote 'amuck' three times instead of once. Because after having watched the witchy movie, Hocus Pocus, I can absolutely NEVER hear or think of the word 'amuck' and not think of it in terms of 3. OK, squirrel be gone.
When I say vibal discrepancies, thus far, we have focused on writing in a slightly moody, saddened, somewhat depressed vibe, noticeably different than everything else. Suppose, what you are writing is straight up depression already. The vibe is dark, sad, lonely, and everything negative you can think of. And then one day you sit down to write and through the words a little sunshine pops out. Rays of something just a little bit different. It could happen. Enough that you, the reader, picked up on it. Do you think it would be easier to pick up on a chapter of unintentionally inserted gloom and doom writing ticks amongst the flow of sunshine writing or a chapter of unintentionally inserted sunshine writing ticks amongst the flow of gloom and doom writing? Wow, I bet that's a question you've never been asked before. If you actually have, let's just say it's a strange world. In my personal opinion, I would pick up on the unintentionally inserted gloom and doom writing ticks against the flow of sunshine writing . Now, don't get confused about what I'm saying here because we can write about character X and character Y having one awesome time doing whatever and suddenly situation Z derails the entire moment. Not the point here.
I do not notice my writing vibal discrepancies on a regular basis, just occasionally. Maybe it shows more than I realize, maybe it doesn't. But when I do notice it, I try to fix it. Back space, rewrite, tweak, retweak, yadda yadda yadda. Whatever I can do to make it flow as it should. Please insert the word 'attempt' into that last sentence.
Now that you've read through everything I've previously written here, where does it leave us? Well, as the writer, I will continue to hammer out my stories always being watchful for the snakebite tick and you ... well, perhaps you'll never give this subject another thought again. But let me make one small request of you, if I may? Through all of your reading journeys, from this day forward, whatever the book, whoever the author ... if you ever notice a little something different in the way the author wrote through a particular section ... pause for a second or two and think of something absolutely positive in your life. Kind of like a little random alarm clock check on your heart and brain. Trust me, we could all use more of them. Always check on the flow of yourself.
Ratta tat tat tat and that's that. I hope, if nothing more, that this was somewhat entertaining for your mind. Gotta use it, people. Go deep. Challenge it with questions. Work that brain like it was lifting dumbbells. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed today's nonsense. Be happy.
Until then, continue to feed your brain. You owe it to yourself.
Angelo
Check out my book, Caesar's Move at angelobain.com
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