ranting-editing

Ranting - and editing the word of God

George G Clark, 21 September 2010

For our present purpose rants can be thought of as "high energy linguistic outbursts". These can be rational or emotional, and they can be written or spoken.

In rational written rant mode you begin with a brainstorm from which you develop an outline and then flesh it out. In emotional written rant mode you just write the story as it flows from the unconscious: it is as if there is an independent inner author, as if you are just channeling the outputs from the muse, as if you are taking dictation from the word of God (or the devil!)

Ideally the output from the muse would be flawless but, at least in my case, this rarely happens. Most often there is interplay between the rational and the emotional. When being rational there can be 'Aha' moments that greatly enliven the basic story. And, when being 'creative', the emotional outbursts can normally benefit from pruning and rearranging by a cool-headed editor.

Spoken ranting is similar to written ranting but is more immediate and is less susceptible to editing after the event.

Gifted spoken ranters are in essence high energy story tellers who have learned to marry the rational and the emotional. At the other end of the spectrum are those uncontrolled ranters of whom it might be said that 'they open their mouths and let their bellies rumble'. And in the middle position are those more balanced conversationalists who heed the request to 'please engage brain before opening mouth'.

Daily life offers an endless stream of more or less engaging rants from family and friends. And, if that is not enough to meet your need for animated communication, you can always top up on outputs from the media, and increasingly from ICT assisted social networks. Humanity is not short of ranters who are prone to high energy linguistic outbursts and to expressing the word of their God … This is a living example!