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Re: [GWL]: Query Openings & "I"

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>From: GLORIA SCHECHTER <prettydirtyladies@prodigy.net>
>To: Gardenwriters@topica.com
>Subject: Re: [GWL]: Query Openings & "I"
>Date: Sat, Sep 29, 2001, 10:41 AM
>

>I accidentally deleted Mary Lynn's post, would someone forward it to me
>again. Thanks.
>gloria
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Carol Deppe <caroldeppe@yahoo.com>
>To: <Gardenwriters@topica.com>
>Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2001 12:37 PM
>Subject: [GWL]: Query Openings & "I"
>
>
>>
>> Mary Lynn wrote:
>> > Avoid beginning paragraphs (and most sentences, if you can) with "I."
>> > These
>> > are, above all, sales letters which should focus on "you" (as in you,
>> > the
>> > editor or you, the potential readers).  e.g "Your readers would benefit
>> > from
>> > my expertise in skunk cabbage culture" as opposed to "I have years of
>> > experience in studying skunk cabbages."
>>
>> For the list in general --
>> The basic object to the ban on the word "I" is to avoid putting editors
>> or readers off by sounding self-centered or arrogant.  It shouldn't be
>> considered a hard and fast rule, though.   When the query or article is
>> based upon your own original research, for example, you either use a
>> judicious number of "I"s or you creat confusion, clumsiness, or even
>> unreadable writing.  Scientific papers are the ultimate in avoidance of
>> "I" as well as the ultimate in turgidity and unreadability.
>>
>> The instruction to focus on "you" (the editor or the reader) instead of
>> "I" is a common one in courses, seminars, and articles for beginning
>> writers.  I usually don't go along with this either.  One of my own
>> personal rules:  NEVER tell an editor what he is going to think.  I
>> really resent it when an article or ad tells me what I'm going to think.
>>  When you tell an editor what his readers are going to think, it's right
>> next door to telling him what he is going to think.  The editor
>> undoubtedly thinks he has a much better idea of what his readers need or
>> are going to think that I do, and probably does.  (He reads letters to
>> the editor; freelancers don't.)  Also, I try to avoid self-praise.
>> "Your readers would benefit from my expertise in..." seems too close to
>> self-praise to my tastes.
>>
>> If I were a skunk-cabbage expert proposing a story I might start my
>> query with something like "For the last twenty years I have spent most
>> of my waking hours in the skunk cabbage patch.  My story "Life among the
>> Skunk Cabbages" will be..."  This approach uses "I," but deemphasizes it
>> by moving it to the interior of the sentence.
>>
>> Note, by the way, the use of "my story...WILL," not "my story...WOULD."
>> To my ear, "would" sounds pessimistic and insecure. "Will" projects
>> cheerful confidence.  This editor is going to buy the story, it
>> projects; if not, some other editor will.
>>
>> Carol Deppe
>> Author of BREED YOUR OWN VEGETABLE VARIETIES:  THE GARDENER'S AND
>> FARMER'S GUIDE TO PLANT BREEDING AND SEED SAVING (See table of contents,
>> excerpts, & reviews at http://www.chelseagreen.com.)
>>
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