Writing and Tongue Twisters

How much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a wood chuck could wood?

We’ve all heard that these sorts of lines can help your writing.  I’ve heard that coming up with these sorts of one liners and writing them down can help me remember things better than I did before.  I’ve also heard this only helps one part of the mind.

Tongue twisters have been around for a while, and they do play an important role in a writer’s life, it teaches you rhythm when you might not think of it.  Writing is one part written word and one part visual, and one part spoken word.

Spoken word because there is the idea that people will read your work a loud, and they must find some rhythm and melody to your writing.

As a writer, it is important to sit back and think about how small things such as tongue twisters can help you and your writing.  It’s making a part of the brain work that normally doesn’t get as much exercise.  It’s pushing the tongue to do things that it normally can’t or won’t do.  This is why a successful writer such as E.B. White took the time to understand style, or ‘music” of words.  His classic book, Charlotte’s Web is one where you can see with your mind the place.

You can also by reading the passage where the children play on the swing get the feeling of doing so yourself. It’s similar to a tongue twister in so far that you can change your tone of voice to match what you want to convey.

The beauty of great writing is that it is memorable, and it means something to the reader.  The more I write, the more I understand how much I need to covey with words, the logic and the ‘music’ I am trying to give to the reader.  Setting is one thing, but writing the words is another.

Tongue twisters are both fun and a great thing, but it’s when they mean something, a memory of fun, then that is when the difference is clear.