Writing Dental

I was at the dentist last week, and I forgot to take a book. Scandalous, I know.

So while I was waiting, I read the information on the wall instead.

 

GDC Standards.

There are nine principles registered dental professionals must keep at all times.

 

As I read, I began to see correlations between dentists using their dentist-tools on teeth, and writers using their writer-tools on paper.

 

Principle One

Dentist: Put patients’ interests first.

Writer: Put readers’ interests first.

As we write (for publication), let’s remember that we do so to be read.

My niece recently came second in the Dernier Publishing competition.

She was thrilled, and called me to show me her prize.

She held it up to the screen and we talked about her story, and her prize, sharing excitement.

At one point, she stilled. Eyes wide. She simply mouthed, “Wow”.

Her ‘wow moment’ came when I told her I’d seen that someone was going to read her story to their children.

Wow.

May we, as writers, never lose that wow.

Someone read my work.

 

Principle Two

Dentist: Communicate effectively with patients.

Writer: Communicate effectively with readers.

I remember having to delete a large section of a manuscript because it did not add to the reader’s experience. In fact, it was confusing to the whole, because it didn’t really fit.

I didn’t want to delete it; I was rather attached to that section. It worked for me, but it didn’t work for the reader.

More recently, my editor suggested deleting three words. Yep, three.

I absolutely loved those three words. I fought for them. They made it through rounds of edits (albeit with a query beside them).

They will not be appearing in the final book. And I am ok with that. Because I realised again that, although they worked for me, they did not for the reader.

As we write, let’s remember that we are communicating to and with and for our readers.

I sometimes lead sessions about communication.

Communication is about getting a message from A to B.

If B cannot receive meaning from A, then perhaps A needs to rethink their communication method.

May we, as writers, be ready to re-write, ready to edit, ready to add or delete, in order to make our work as effective to our readers as it can be.

 

Principle Three

Dentist: Obtain valid consent.

Writer: Obtain permissions.

Be it from a work we wish to quote, or a family member we wish to tell a story about – especially if they are easily identifiable in our work – let’s get permission.

I’ve never been turned down on quoting from other people’s work.

I’ve never been turned down by family or friends on telling anecdotes that include them.

I have, however, been turned down. I sent someone an excerpt from a manuscript, which mentioned them, and they asked me to change it. I was so happy they’d asked me to, and gladly did. I’d have felt awful if I’d published the original and they did not like - or agree with - what I'd put.

May we, as writers, obtain permission from people whenever apt/possible.

 

When I sat down to write this blog, hot off the dentist’s chair, I thought I’d include all nine principles from the information on the waiting room wall. But it seems I am more than out of space/time/words.

So I am about to reach some heady heights. Never did I ever think I would type the following:

Part Two of this blog will (probably) follow next month.