The Interpretation of Writing
Yesterday I was on a long run (training is a bitch) and I was listening to music trying to not think about how many miles I had left and how much my lungs wished I would just stop already. The music distracts me just enough to help pass the time (and the miles), and this time was no different. Then a song came on from an artist I really like — it’s about an illegal immigrant crossing over the border and all the things he leaves behind.
And I started to visualize the character, his facial gestures, how he hugged his family before embarking on this voyage to the US, not knowing when he would ever see his family again. It was all very vivid, and it something really important came to mind: this is not the same way it looks in the singer’s mind.
We all have our own interpretation of what we read and hear in music. That’s what makes it so great. I’ve always written with the idea that “I want the reader to experience exactly what I want them to. Exactly.” It’s a mistake — that’s impossible no matter how precise or vast your vocabulary is. It just can’t be done. Instead, I should be focused on trying to make my language as interpretable as possible. That is, vivid enough for it to mean something and be unique, but general enough that people can take those words and transform them into their own images with their own meaning.
There’s a line in the song I was listening to that goes something like this (it’s in Spanish):
He fakes a grin as he says goodbye
This is as the guy is saying goodbye to his family before leaving to cross the border (or try to). I can see this in my mind so clearly because I’ve seen this before. I’ve seen this guy at the airport before getting on a plane and knowing there’s a good chance he’ll never see his family again. That smile is him putting a brave face on and pretending it’s all OK so the goodbye isn’t as hard. I can see all this thanks to the way the song was written. It’s accessible for my interpretation.
This is something I have to get through my thick skull. I need to keep the reader in mind more often than I do now. It is, as we say, a work in progress.
PS This post was included in the Just Write carnival over at The Incurable Disease of Writing. If anyone knows of any other good writing/writing carnival site, please let me know.
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:01 pm
[...] Coin presents The Interpretation of Writing posted at The Writer’s Coin, saying, “Writing is all about interpretation, and the [...]