Intuition...

[fajrdrako]

I read a phrase this morning that I thought intersting.

It was by writer Steven Berlin Johnson, and he said: "...it lets me see something statistically that I've thought a great deal about intuitively as a writer".

Isn't that a paradox? If you've thought a great deal about something, it isn't intuitive? Or conversely, if it's intuitive, a great deal of thought isn't appplicable?

Anyway, it's an interesting essay: about how writers have typical word and sentences lengths with which they are comfortable. Interesting thought. I'm not sure I'm comfortable thinking about my own ratios. Makes me too self-conscious.

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, personally, I have no problems at all with semi-colons. I love 'em. I think they should be treated with much more respect than they get. I thnk everyone should use them. I also like liberal use of commas, serial and otherwise.

Brackets? I feel some shame and embarrassment about my use of brackets. They are so seductive. It's so easy to use serial parentheses in the same (overlong) sentence or (interminable) paragraph. But it's only really a problem when I myself get lost in the labyrinth and can't get back to the original point of the sentence.

This of course is why editing was invented.