I’ve noticed my writing style has changed in the last few years in a very specific way: I seem to have unconsciously/consciously deprecated all features of writing that make it valuable to readers while focusing on those that make it more valuable to me. A more “private” style.
Conversation
It’s I think a reaction to a sense that our society is increasingly devaluing the written word so my brain is unconsciously going, “well screw you guys, I’m taking this show private”.
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The devaluing takes many forms: careless language by public figures, disdain for precision/nuance, indifference to clarity. Fewer people just taking pleasure in words (wit, irony, wordplay, artistically interesting subversions), devaluing of verbal products like wonkery etc.
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Features that are more for readers than me: memes, neologisms, helpful examples, images, aphorisms, throughline narratives, scripted “aha” moments, pop culture references. While I enjoy (or used to) the crafting of these, when I write for myself I dispense with them.
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To be fair, the abuse of language in service of the power: to intimidate, manipulate, pander, flatter, threaten, scare, obfuscate, mislead, misdirect...this is a legit skill and art form in its own right. And deliberate practitioners of that kind of language are doing fine.
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But there’s a joylessness to such use that is uninterested in its ability to enable rather than retard thought. And it’s not about power per se. Language+power are PB&J when one is not reduced to being an instrument of the other (think good rap lyrics or dialogue in Deadwood)
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Not writer’s block exactly, but I’ve “lost” my *public* voice. A sense of “why bother? no matter how much effort and thought I put into it, some shitty trumpy thing or outrage cycle will take over the discourse”
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Pen vs. sword is a pretty good dichotomy. I think in the current mood practicing shooting would feel more rewarding than practicing writing, as far as cultivating a public voice goes (for the record I’ve never fired a gun or been particularly attracted by the idea)
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(No objection/problems with learning gun skills, and if I had to I suppose I’d learn and get mediocre at it)
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