User talk:Zaereth/Writing tips for the amateur writer

Zaereth Thank you for this excellent essay with tips on writing. I have skimmed it with great interest. I plan to study it much more closely in coming days.

I notice the 7 titles you recommend under “Further reading”. My interest in quality self-expression is due partly to reading The Complete Plain Words by Ernest Gowers. Dolphin (t) 22:24, 22 March 2021 (UTC)

You're welcome. Thank you for the compliment. It still needs some work and serious copy-editing. I have to say, I haven't read that one. I'll have to make it a point to check it out. The one's I listed are a few of my favorites. I always liked Mark Twain. You know, he used a vocabulary of less than 500 words in all his books combined? My dogs can understand more words than that!

My interest in writing existed since an early age, but I think it was more pushed on me by my teachers than anything else. I was never happy unless I was on some daring, life-risking adventure. I always had a knack for English and a handicap in math. For anything mathematical to make sense, I need to be able to visualize it in mechanical terms. Hydraulic analogies for electricity are very helpful for me. I've always envied your ability to read that cryptic language of numerals and glyphs.

Much of my interest in the English language is studying its history and morphology, and when you get back to Old English it's like an entirely different language. As a teacher once told me, "If you want to understand a people, first learn their language to find out how their minds work, then learn their mythology so you will know their hearts".

By the way, I like your name. There isn't much in the ocean that is as graceful yet so fast and powerful as the dolphin. I remember, a friend of mine hooked one while halibut fishing once. That thing launched like a missile 15 feet in the air, hit the water, and started pulling line like a rocket. My buddy had one foot against the rail of the boat, and his big halibut-pole was bent in a perfect "U" as he struggled to keep from being yanked into the water. The reel starting to smoke and the captain was yelling, "Cut the line! Cut the line!" It was a hell of a sight. Zaereth (talk) 23:45, 24 March 2021 (UTC)