Writers of The Digital Age

For some who might never have heard of Zane Greys Riders of the Purple Sage, it was made into a 1996 movie for television with Ed Harris and Amy Madigan. As a child I was a punster who loved Westerns. As you can see, my character hasn't changed. The movie retains the storys enigmatic quality without sacrificing the grittiness you expect of the Western novel.

Zane Grey died in 1939, three years after Larry McMurtry was born. Having penned over 80 novels, Greys are considered some of the best Westerns ever written. My neurotic aunt who read only Westerns had bookcases full of her favorites, Louis LAmour and Larry McMurtry. A practicing psychiatrist until her early nineties, she said Westerns helped her relax and forget her self-absorbed neurotic patients.

So who cares? Westerns are out. Forensics are in. Er, close your eyes and try not to laugh. Envision Law and Orders Dennis Farina in chaps and a badge, a courtroom with Sam Waterston in Luccese Western boots, facing down Spencer Tracy in a dusty pair of Laredo Basics. Move CSI Miami to Dodge, and put David Carusos red hair under a big white Stetson. The old clich, theres nothing new under the sun, is nonetheless valid.

While the purple sage has ridden into the sunset, the digital age is this generations zeitgeist in new clothes. Forgive me if sometimes I cant resist using one word instead of the three or four it takes to say the same thing. The experts tell writers we must write to please our readers or we wont have any readers. To be honest, I always want to write to please me. I tell myself, If readers dont know what the word means, let them look it up the way I do. Not.

There's is a happy medium between dumbing down to the lowest common denominator and, when the ego gets in the way, deliberately trying to impress the elitists. In my experience, not all PhDs can spell, and many graduates of urban public schools become great writers. F. Scott Fitzgerald flunked out of Princeton. Ernest Hemingway had other things to do. Prairie Home Companions Garrison Keillor of radio and print is especially insightful and earthy when talking about writers.

Writers are vacuum cleaners who suck up other peoples lives and weave them into stories like a sparrow builds a nest from scraps.

Wish I had said that. An insatiable storyteller of fiction and non-fiction, I think the writers happy medium is simplicityin ones own style, in ones own languageplain American English. Theres so much more to say, but why be prolix. Yikes! Good scrap hunting, and happy nest building.

Simplicity-Courage-Humor-Soul

A writer/editor, I work with one client at a time, beginner or pro, for a cost effective solution to your writing and editing needs. Visit me at http://www.susanscharfman.com

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