Clarity

I love reading or listening to someone that can convey a message clearly. Especially when the subject matter is complex. Way beyond my normal reckoning but they can still get 'El Thicko! (me) to understand the message or the story. There is little point being a clever clogs if you cant share what you have to say.

Take Professor Brian Cox a physicist who lectures in particle physics at the school of physics and astronomy at Manchester University, England. He also presents a programme called the planets on the BBC. He uses simple everyday language to convey his understanding of a black hole, or how the universe began. Never trying to find obscure, peculiar or less often used words for the sake of it. Of course he doesn't need to as he knows his subject very well. Proof of his unique skill is that I can sit and watch an episode of the planets and feel I understand every word. Then I try and explain to someone else what I have just watched and it all unravels very quickly into a big mess. It quickly becomes apparent that I am not an astrophysicist and I don't do on the hoof presentations of complex subjects. Or at least not in a live situation. I much prefer to take as much time as is needed to clarify and simplify the intention. (story) This can take months or even years.

I believe very strongly that if you cannot communicate your ideas then you should try harder to do so. If you have something to say but you are not able to say it in a way that people understand then don't say it. At least not until you are able to communicate your ideas or knowledge more effectively. Further understand the audience. They are not stupid just because the idea was not delivered clearly.

Let me clarify, when I write, I use everyday language and simple structures to convey my ideas. I really don't see the point in distracting the reader from the narrative by showing off. I would rather write like Roald Dahl than Dickens although Tolkien is a nice compromise. Yes I am a middle-grade author but I think communicating with the masses is key. Only then can a message be conveyed and not lost in a complex narrative. Even clearly delivered simple notions may be conceived after the fact to be a work of genius.

As yet I am not the author that I wish to be, but I am heading in the right direction. All be it slowly.