Writing Tools

To: Roy Peter Clark
From: Trevor Brown, Former journalism dean, Indiana University

I can't tell you, Roy, how much I'm learning from and enjoying "Writing Tools"! It's on my Christmas list for friends and especially for my daughter.

Somehow, "Writing Tools" has brought a festering irritation to the surface. And intimations of mortality, I suppose. It's not really a writing or authorship issue, more a source issue, so I couldn't find any guidance in "Writing Tools."

Poynter Online - Roy's Writing Tools - Tool #11 Two-Minute Tools Roy Peter Clark talks about Writing Tool #11: Prefer the simple over the technical. Produced by Larry Larsen

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After yanking a limb driven into the lawn like a javelin and then heaving it into the neighbor's yard, I wondered again at Steve Irwin's death. "He left this world in a peaceful and happy state of mind," a fellow snorkeler said, "doing what he loved best."  I doubt that, in the moments after the stingray's barb pierced his heart, Irwin was in a peaceful and happy state of mind. But I'm sick of the unctuous bromide that so-and-so died doing what he loved best.

It could happen that a plunging limb from the trees at the bottom of our garden will take me out while I'm mowing. Yes, I enjoy mucking about on my John Deere LT133.  But, please, please, I've told my wife and children, no line in my obituary, "He died doing what he loved best." I've implored them to edit an obituary like this:

Trevor Brown, 69, died Monday in his home. His wife, Charlene, found him slumped over on a couch in the living room, a victim, apparently, of a heart attack while doing the New York Times crossword. Preliminary speculation is that he was entering an answer to 9-across -- "One making a point at church?" --  when he succumbed. He had written only "E-L" to the five-letter answer and still clutched his favorite pencil, a 0.7 Pentel with a large eraser.
 
Will Shortz, editor of the New York Times crossword, said, "I met Trevor Brown only once during a visit some years ago to Indiana University and did not learn that he was a crossword fan until after his death. Then I was surprised to discover that a faculty member at my alma mater was rarely able to get beyond Monday's crossword, the least challenging of the week's puzzles, until I was told he was a dean. It must be of great comfort to the family that Dean Brown died doing what he loved best. By the way, the answer to 9-across in this Monday's puzzle was SPIRE."

Coaches like you should urge obit writers to resist the quote of comfort from well-meaning family and friends. I say, go for "The horror! The horror!"

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Dear Trevor:

As a writing doctor, I've always prescribed Bromo Seltzer to neutralize the gaseous effects of the unctuous bromide. I, too, eschew a platitudinous death. In a eulogy for my father-in-law, I argued that when it came to the parenting of his five children, he was more Meat Cleaver than Ward Cleaver. The payoff for this humorous candor was that his children could recognize their father in my sermon, and, having stared the dark side in the face, move on to the light.

Thanks, Trevor, for the writing strategy you've described: Favor the clever truth over the unctuous bromide. Cheers, RPC.