At present I feel as if my brain is about to burst. I am taking a break from grading college papers. Besides the mental workout of grading papers, I’ve also been reading Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and watching an educational video on how comic books are produced. One thing that stands out is how differently communication occurs in each case.
My students for the most part are doing a great job answering the questions for their assignment. However, their writing is somewhat bland. I find myself consistently challenging them to work on the vividness and forcefulness of their writing. But, why aren’t they expressing their ideas as vividly as I’d like? Part of the problem is the ideas aren’t really theirs. They are answering questions and so the seeds of the ideas are coming from outside as opposed to inside. Their motivation is fulfilling an assignment as opposed to their ideas coming from the fires deep inside their souls. They are talking about things the class requires them to cover as opposed to expressing what they deeply care about.
Watching the video on comic production, I am amazed by the artistic expression. Both the writer and illustrator have tapped into their creative souls. I’m also struck by the simplicity of imagery. As the illustrator is drawing the scene, his use of line, shadow and background set an emotional context. His visual orientation is in sharp contrast to my students’ conceptual orientation. He is conveying ideas through images. In many cases my students just convey the ideas. Ideas without images are powerless. Even in writing or speaking, one creates images through language, stories and analogies. When my students write in a way that taps into the senses of the reader (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch) I notice the writing seems to reach out and grab me.
John Gray’s Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus is a great example of writing that relies heavily on stories and analogies. He tells stories about himself and his wife. He shares examples of dialogue between men and women. He uses analogies to explain the cycles of intimacy men and women experience. His writing is extremely easy to understand. He writing is exactly what I challenge my students to produce—vivid, forceful and it reaches out and grabs the reader.
So, what is the take home? The best communication comes from deep inside of us. The best communication is often simple. The best communication connects to the senses of the reader.
