Be positive
Hey, everyone!
I loved the character Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh when I was a tyke. His self-deprecating humor always appealed to me. Even today, I'll occasionally search for Eeyore quotes online and laugh across time with the toothless blond kid I used to be. Doing this tonight is what prompted me to write this post.
Two of my favorite Eeyore quotes are "It's not much of a tail, but I'm sort of attached to it" and "It's an awful nice tail, Kanga. Much nicer than the rest of me." I like how the first one starts negative and then flips into a noncommital positive. The second quote surprises you with an uncharacteristically buoyant outlook from Eeyore, then slips back into the mire of his self-deprecation.
Communication is down!
As an adult, I've met a few Eeyores. I've even been one myself at times. OK, fine! Most of the time! Just stop holding that raisin cookie to my head.
While amusing in Eeyore's wry modesty, self-deprecating humor can wear on people when it becomes how you think about yourself deep down. For example, I used to work with a guy who made this remark about a presentation slide he had worked on, "Go ahead. Use my slide as an example of how not to do it. Then, at least, I won't be utterly useless." While he was a nice guy, he never made many friends at work because his negativity tended to drain people (Rest in peace, my friend).
The same is true of writing. If your writing is unnecessarily negative, people may feel the gloom in your prose and put it down.
Take the cheerful path
While it is easy to identify downer language like, "I've got a face for radio, a voice for blogging, and the writing skills for a nap," other downbeat issues in your writing are harder to spot. Let's consider a couple of examples.
"Marc didn't want the vanilla cone and reached for the chocolate instead."
While there's nothing wrong with chocolate ice cream (it's certainly better than rum raisin), the sentence could be more cheerful.
"Marc considered his options, then seized the chocolate cone."
OK, I cheated on that last one using a stronger verb, but trust me, it's the better sentence either way. In the first example, it sounds like Marc is settling for the chocolate ice cream because he doesn't like vanilla. However, in the second sentence, Marc is most excited to have the chocolate cone out of all his options. See the difference?
Here's another example of dialogue you may have written in a short story about my mom's new living room furniture once while you were in college.
"Please don't sit on the coffee table."
Your professor may have suggested you change the sentence to make my mom look less of a nag. I'm sure you took her advice and came up with something like this next sentence, but we'll have to ask you, won't we?
"Please have a seat on the davenport."
The first example sounds like a command, whereas the second example feels like an invitation. Good job!
The challenge
Using negative words isn't necessarily a bad thing. For example, you may be writing a tragic drama about your cousin's inability to bear children, who weren't total butt cheeks, and want your audience to feel your pain. However, in most cases, dusting your prose of don'ts, won'ts, can'ts, and shan'ts will go a long way toward conveying a subconscious vibe of optimism that your readers will unknowingly love.
For today's challenge, look through things you've written for any bits of negativity you inadvertently included in your prose. Then, if you find a hint of negativity, post it in the comments, along with how you fixed it.