We Get It...Unless We Don't: Content Clarity Counts

We Get It…Unless We Don’t: Content Clarity Counts

This post originally appeared on JoeyStrawn.com, but when writing it I knew it had implications for the For Bloggers, By Bloggers audience as well. So, I have adjusted the content and reposted an updated version here specifically for you guys. Enjoy!

This is a story about miscommunication. It’s also a story about the importance of good, clear writing in your blogging.

Last week, my wife stumbled upon an article in an old issue of Smithsonian Magazine. The article was titled “Green Eggs and Salmonella?” and was about the “hidden hazards lurking within popular children’s books.” She was furious about the content of the article because of the writer’s position on children’s books for two reasons:

My wife loves children’s books and would eventually love to illustrate them, and…
The position the article took was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever read in my life.

In case you aren’t sure what I mean by point number 2, here’s a few samples:

Reading these stories today is like sitting through a Quentin Tarantino movie. Have you ever added up the body count? One poor girl is transformed into a block of wood and thrown into a fire.

…and when talking about Goodnight Moon…

The tale is a veritable hotbed of child safety hazards. First of all, the child’s great green bedroom contains an open fireplace filled with dangerous tools.

I wonder what she thinks about the classic Green Eggs and Ham. Dr. Seuss can’t be taken seriously, right?

Health concerns abound. Sam-I-am pushes discolored pork products on the protagonist, encouraging him to eat them with a mouse and a goat. There’s no hand sanitizer in sight; I guess salmonella and swine flu are on the menu as well.

And possibly my favorite…

Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Catepillar binges on junk food, then starves himself to turn into a beautiful butterfly. As if our kids don’t already have enough problems with body image. Safety hazards, parental negligence, eating disorders…It almost makes me nostalgic for the attempted cannibalism in Hansel and Gretel.

Neither my wife, nor myself, could believe the post was anything but satire. No one could really feel that way, right? Apparently the readers of the article were just as confused as we were because, of the 56 comments, 30% of them thought the writer was an idiot and the remaining 60% were convinced it was satire because “no one can seriously feel this way.”

I was so bothered by it that I tracked the blogger down on her personal site. Since she never responds to the comments on the article to clarify her position and makes not even the slightest hint at satire meaning within the post, I had to see how she approached other topics.

After an hour of searching, reading through hundreds of comments and tracking down more writings samples and the submission guidelines for the Smithsonian section she wrote to, I came to the conclusion it wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, but in all honesty I’m still not sure, especially considering things she says on her blog about like:

I have to admit, I had my reservations about bringing [my children] to a movie (she’s referring to The Lorax movie, mind you). They can be hypersensitive to certain themes in movies, which may have something to do with the fact that [their] mother was traumatized by “Cinderella” at a young age. It wasn’t the evil stepsisters that upset me, but the meanness towards the weight-challenged mouse, Gus.

The Importance of Clarity

If the post was meant to be taken seriously, I have a whole other post titled “Green Eggs and Shut the Hell Up” and I post, which will make use of this video from YouTube, but considering I HAVE to believe she was going for satire, so let me approach the issue of clarity.

I don’t care if you’re going for satire, spoof, editorial, free-form or haiku, if your readers can’t figure out what you’re trying to get across, you’ve failed. Nowhere in Mrs. Green’s post does she even hint at satire, nor does her other writing hint that she is capable of it, nor does the channel she chooses to write in support it. The simple fact that the article appeared in a “write whatever you feel” category in a magazine that doesn’t seem to use much humor is the only indication that she’s not serious.

In your writing, make sure the point you’re trying to get across gets across. You run the risk of pissing off a lot of people when 75% of your readers on average misunderstand you. So, here are a few things to keep in mind when trying to land on the issue of clarity:

Ask a friend to proofread your article with no warning or summary from you.
Let posts sit for a day or two and revisit them to see if your meanings still come through.
Understand the channels you write in and the audiences of each. If the medium isn’t used to or designed for humor and satire, it may not be best to submit or post an Onion-style satirical piece.

There’s a very good chance I’ll go to my grave not fully understanding if Mrs. Green was being serious and truly hated Wilhelm Grimm and his stories or was trying to make a point about…..well…..I’m not exactly sure.

In all honesty, most of the venom here should be directed at The Smithsonian magazine for agreeing to publish and distribute a story that was possibly meant as satire through a channel where most people wouldn’t get it, but Mrs. Green did submit her article knowing the channel and never again attempts satire. You have to know your audience and to whom you’re writing in order to know what content to send their way.

What do you do to make sure your strategies and content are clear to your readers? Do you just assume everyone knows how you feel? You know what they say about assuming, don’t you?

Thoughts?

Buffer

http://stanfaryna.wordpress.com/ Faryna

I find it difficult to flavor my writing with satire, parody, and irony. That doesn’t stop me from trying. [grin]

As you can see, I employ a variety of devices to emphasize and punctuate humor, etc. with italicized text or default emotes.

Still, Mrs. Green is psychotic and she’s quite a funny psychotic too.
- http://www.joeystrawn.com joey_strawn
  
  @Faryna Thanks for your comment. I didn’t mean to imply that all posts have to be funny to be good or have some sense of irony or satire, but when dealing with double meanings and stories, it’s important to make sure people follow your train of thought and intent.
  
  Cheers!
http://www.RyanHanley.com/ Ryan Hanley

Very good point… I recently wrote an article for an Insurance Industry trade magazine trying to stir the motivation of Young Insurance Agents to come out and help push the Insurance Industry forward through technology (lack of technological advance is a big issue).

In the article I as “Old-Tymers” to step aside and let young agents harness the tools of our day…

Well I was referring to “Old-Tymers” as a mentality… Many others say it as an attack on a certain Age.

If I had better defined my position I don’t think it would have been a problem… but I didn’t and was forced to learn a lesson.

Great topic… Thanks!!

Ryan H.
- http://www.joeystrawn.com joey_strawn
  
  @Ryan Hanley You’re welcome, Ryan! Hopefully that didn’t turn into too big of a problem for you, but it’s another great example of the importance of clarity.
  
  Cheers!
  - http://www.RyanHanley.com/ Ryan Hanley
    
    @joey_strawn I turned that post into a three part series that told the entire story and really ended up bringing everyone together at the end… (like i meant to do it that way…haha)
laineyd7

Hi Joey – I like your points (and your wife’s) – I know sometimes in conversation I will go from point A to point D, without ever explaining (via points B and C) how I got there. It confuses my audience unless they know me. Perhaps Ms. Salmonella is guilty of that error? Whatever the case, we need to be clear and you’ve given us an illustration of how badly things can go if we’re not. Thank you for that.

I resent worrywarts who try to read more into old chestnuts like Cinderella, Goodnight Moon, and other kids’ literature. To each his own, I suppose…. but I believe the point of these stories is for kids to draw their own conclusions – that’s the fun of it, no?
- http://www.joeystrawn.com joey_strawn
  
  @laineyd7 Thanks for your comment Lainey. That was one thing I was confused about as well. I couldn’t understand if she was overplaying her worrywartness for satirical purposes or was simple being too overcautious. It started to frustrate me and I don’t like doing hours of research to just find out if someone was making a joke or not.
  
  Clarity is essential unless the point you’re trying to make it to confuse people.
http://www.onourbikes.com/ Jon Stow

We all hope we are read by a wide audience and very likely some of that audience will have different cutural backgrounds. We can do without being misunderstood.

Satire has its place and I enjoy it in that place, but if we do not have the context we will all struggle. Good post, Joey.
- http://www.joeystrawn.com joey_strawn
  
  @Jon Stow Thanks, Jon!
http://www.ipnostudio.com/ Andrea H. | The Hypnotism Weekly

We should always aim to make clear “what’s the point” in our writing, not that I’m always able to do it but at least I try to.

As regards fables Joey I’ve always found “interesting” that they’ve been good as they were for centuries but now they are not and they must be sugarized for children to listen. Btw does it exist sugarized in English?

The goal of fables was not to entertain but to teach children that if you don’t behave well you got punished and that at the end the goods always win. I think they worked because everyone of us remembers the fables of our childhood and what happens when you go out of home and lose the way back because birds ate all breadcrumbs right? Now it seems that children are so fragile that everything harms them, except being bombarded as hard as possible by commercials psychologically targeted at them. This is cool.

The damages done by this commercial bombing on children is much worse than any fable, even the Bluebeard one. Fables were meant at teaching how to live a honest and good life and for me they worked. It might be then that later on you get to like horror movies like me.

Btw every blogger which allows comments but doesn’t respond to should be dropped as he or she is surely unworth reading. Imho.

Have a great Sunday!
- http://www.joeystrawn.com joey_strawn
  
  @Andrea H. | The Hypnotism Weekly I agree. Who ever said fables and fairy tales had to be all puppies and rainbows. If you truly look back at them, the original tales were FAR more graphic than today’s retellings. Cinderella had her two sisters killed and crows ate their eyeballs during her wedding procession. The Little Mermaid commits suicide at the end of the original tale. They are haunting stories but used to teach lessons. We’ve desensitized children so much that even “safe” versions of the stories are getting to be “too out there”.
  
  It’s quite sad.
  
  Thanks for your comment!
Leon

G’Day Joey,
I’m back! Now don’t cringe. I bear good tidings. Just in case you can’t grab a copy of Mr King’s “On Writing,” you could do worse than follow Robert Gunning’s ’10 Principles of Clear Writing.”

Keep sentences short
Prefer the simple to the complex
Use the familiar word
Avoid unnecessary words
Put action into your verbs
Write as you talk
Use picturable terms
Tie in with readers’ experience
Make full use if variety
Write to express not to impress

I admit that these principles were first published in 1952. That’s pre-history to most bloggers. But it’s still good advice. Your Mrs Green obviously hasn’t read the last principle.

I ‘ve been writing since a time when you first learnt to write then tried to get published. From a lot of the stuff I read on the web, that time is pre-history too to many bloggers. But you know, when you reach my age, pre-history’s an interesting time.

I wonder if Mrs Green takes life as seriously as she seems to………… I’ll just stick to “make sure you have fun.”

Best Wishes

Leon
- http://www.joeystrawn.com joey_strawn
  
  @Leon Hey Leon, don’t worry I didn’t cringe. I’m a big fan of King’s “On Writing.” I’m actually using it as a textbook on a class about writing for digital media in the Fall. I’m not as familiar with Gunning’s work, but it sounds like he has a lot of good advice.
  
  Thanks!
http://www.vitalchats.co.za/ Wade Balsdon

Good post and I have a few thoughts. One is that children should not be exposed to this type of stuff in children’s novels. Secondly, I agree that you have to be careful when writing. There can be a lot lost in translation in the written word when compared to the spoken word.
- http://www.joeystrawn.com joey_strawn
  
  @Wade Balsdon Thanks for the comment, Wade.
tonyf7

Writers sometimes get trapped in their own head and think that everyone will interpret their writing as they do. Kind of like an inside joke with your best friend that you expect everyone to laugh at. Not gonna happen!

So the lesson here is, assume you’re writing for a 3rd grader and make everything obvious, not only to yourself, but to your reader.
- http://www.joeystrawn.com joey_strawn
  
  @tonyf7 Good advice! : )
  
  Thanks for the comment.