When I write, I write for myself. At least, I write for a version of myself. I have an obsession with the idea of encounter and how I meet that other version of myself – possibly the one that’s unencumbered by over-thinking – during the course of that writing. I digress. My apologies. Let me begin again.
Write Right: Prepositions
As a general rule, prepositions shouldn’t end sentences. It’s allowed in informal writing and conversation, but entirely too many people have abused the rule. One of those people is Jennifer Hudson, who has a single entitled “Where You At?”
A Grin without a Cat
If I had to choose a favorite character from Alice in Wonderland, I would choose the Cheshire Cat. He’s creepy and possibly madder than any of the other characters, but he knows things. He knows things, and he refuses to share them.
Off with Their Heads!
Some writers bear an uncanny resemblance to the Queen of Hearts. They’re illogical, absurd. If Lewis Carroll were to meet some of those writers, he might use his description of the Queen in reference to them. He says the Queen is a “blind fury.” She has no self-control. Every difficulty, no matter how great or trifling, is met with her well-known and oft-quoted phrase, “Off with their heads!”
Murdering the Time
In Alice in Wonderland, the Hatter (ostensibly not mad yet) is sentenced to death by the Queen of Hearts for “murdering the time” with the song he attempts to sing at her celebration. He escapes death, as many of the characters in the tale do, but not the attention of Time. Time is so angry with the Hatter for “killing” him that Time halts time itself, imprisoning the Hatter in time, at six p.m., the time for tea.
The White Rabbit
Lewis Carroll describes the White Rabbit as being “elderly, timid, feeble, and nervously shilly-shallying.” The rabbit also is rude to anyone he deems inferior and grovels before those who are superior. He has no weight to him; he is all white fluff.