It is what it is.........

We write who we are. The expressions. The moods. The subliminal nuances that are barely recognizable in hushed tones in the spoken word are glaringly in-your-face in the written word. Difficult to hide the real person as the tones emanate from within, not from without. What we write and how we write it, is who we are.

Pick up on the tone. It’s there. Even when we write fiction, a particle of non-fiction spreads across the page. Inevitable otherwise. I am who I am. That can’t be changed with the stroke of a pen, or in this case, with the tap of a computer key. Even when I characterize an analogy, you hear me. I can say to you, read this anonymous ‘whatever’, knowing full well that I wrote it, and you will say, without the knowing, 'this sounds like you.' There is no escape. Even the best of the best can not hide who they are within the patter of their words, try as they might.

Case in point: 

“Imagine that you have to break someone’s arm.

Right or left, doesn’t matter. The point is that you have to break it, because if you don’t…well, that doesn’t matter either. Let’s just say that bad things will happen if you don’t.

Now, my question goes like this: do you break the arm quickly - snap, whoops, sorry…..”

For those of us who know him, immediately we say, ‘this sounds just like him.’ Hugh Laurie wrote The Gun Seller in 1996. A work of fiction originally published in Great Britain by William Heinemann, Ltd. It is a spoof on the spy genre, and not something that appeals to me, however, having said that, I may just have to add it to my library anyway, and at some later date in time, carefully blow-off the dust and actually read it.

When I came across this book and read the first two paragraphs, I could picture him in front of me speaking the words with that tone of his. He jumped off the page even while writing about something that is far removed from who he is. Or is it?

 

What we write doesn’t give us away.

How we write it, does.