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Writing the Balanced Way
By Annette Gulati
My life is all about balance and harmony. I’m a Libra, after all, the seventh
sign of the Zodiac, represented by the scales. To top it off, I’m also a middle
child, deeply aware of any disparities my parents unknowingly created among my
siblings and me. So the term "equality" plays a big role in my life.
I’ve been known to count out the same number of crackers to each of my children,
to take two photographs of the same scene and to buy two identical vases to
create a symmetrical look. I was even planning on having a balanced family, with
two children and two parents. (God threw me a curve ball and gave me twins, to
round off our lopsided family of five.) I am Ms. Egalitarianism. I just had no
idea that this routine practice had also maneuvered its way into my writing.
Who knew my love of coordinating conjunctions had anything to do with my
penchant for fairness? And, but, or, and yet-- I use them often. Don’t they just
give both sides of a sentence equal strength? The dog scratched his ears, and
the cat licked her paws. I certainly haven’t forgotten my English grammar
lessons. Yes, principal clauses can stand alone, but why should they, when they
can be united? It’s all about compatibility.
Even when I create my characters, harmony comes into play. Of course they don’t
have similar temperaments. I do remember there must be a protagonist and an
antagonist. But they do need to be treated equally, don’t they? After all, if
the dog gets jumbo ears, a stringy tail, and a pointed snout, why can’t the cat
also have three physical traits? Maybe petite ears, a fluffy tail, and a pink
nose. Our own Declaration of Independence says all men are created equal.
My characters have even become multi-taskers, and now it’s starting to make
sense to me. I seem to gravitate to compound predicates whenever possible. The
dog must bark and scratch. The cat must sleep and purr. I am committed to my
characters’ ability to do two things at once. I just can’t stand disproportion.
This is obviously a result of my fascination with equilibrium.
One of my biggest writing struggles is with conflict, and now I know why. It
goes against all that is harmonious. Who can stand to have the cat ripping apart
the dog’s bed in search of her catnip? Or the dog, for that matter, catapulting
the cat into the air? Of course, there’s no story without a problem or two. I
just wish it wasn’t so painful to write about animosity and unfairness. I’d
rather just cut to the sweet, agreeable ending.
With this fondness for symmetry, I would love to be a little more adept at
coming up with some brilliant imagery. Similes and metaphors are the epitome of
equality, aren’t they? Unfortunately, they’re not my strongest point. The dog is
as dumb as a slug. Cats are queens in training. Isn’t that just an identical way
of saying: dog = slug and cat = queen? Ahh, to compare or not to compare. That
is the Libra’s question.
Of course, my tendency to create equilibrium can be a good thing. I’m fair and
I’m objective (note the balance here). I don’t favor one character over the
other. Nobody gets preferential treatment, not even the cat. I can be
scrupulous. My chapters can be the same lengths; my sentences can be balanced;
my word count can be exact. Beginnings and endings get fifty-fifty treatment.
I’m equally dedicated to the hook and the wrap-up.
Yes, a harmonious, well-proportioned piece of writing is a great objective. But
I definitely need to think about surrendering my instinctive set of scales.
Discard my Libra tendencies and go out on a limb-- contrast my characters, boost
the conflict, vary the sentence length and complexity. Of course, I will never
abandon my thesaurus. After all, it’s always eager to provide me with an
equivalent word.
Annette Gulati is a freelance writer trying to maintain a balance between
writing for children and adults. She can be reached at
agulati@austin.rr.com.
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