One of the most important aspects of the ABCs of writing and reading is to have ZEST for what you’re doing. You want to come across as someone who loves his or her craft (whether you are a writer or a reader), and the best way to do this is to prove your love of writing by making it part of your everyday life. Use zest to engage in symbolism, vocabulary, and other aspects of your own ABCs that make you love what you do.

So, now that the ABCs of writing and reading have been completed, what would you say your ABCs are? Share one or two of them in the comments!

Today’s word is YET. Starting with writers, if you don’t believe in yourself, who will? You may not have been published yet. You may not have perfected your writing technique yet. You may not even know what you want to write about yet. Notice what the key word is in all this: yet. Nothing may have happened yet, but it may be on the verge of happening. Don’t give up. Keep trying. Work harder. Strive to higher heights; imagine thrilling scenes. Everything good will come in time, as long as you keep in mind that it might not have happened yet, but it’s working its way there, just as you’re still working your way there.

Moving on to readers, you may not have read your favorite novel yet. You may think you have, but another even greater one may still be out there waiting for you to find it. Maybe you haven’t explored every genre yet, and you don’t know what you’re missing with one or more of them. Think about areas of reading you haven’t explored and seek them out. You may be surprised at what you find!

There aren’t many words that begin with ‘X’ that work. So, go with me here. A XYLOPHONE produces different sounds depending on the parts hit. So should it be with writing. Know how to hit high notes, low notes, and everything in between. Xylophones allow you to improvise, so try out different writing styles. Improve your technique by testing different genres. See what you can do to make your writing more surprising and impressive.

For readers, let the notes of the xylophone be all of the parts of writing you love most. One note could be considered the characters you can’t live without, while another note can be the setting of the writing, and another can be how the plot plays out. Another can be the twists and turns the author instills into the writing, and so on and so forth. When reading, considering all the different aspects that make the writing shine will help expand your reading repertoire and make you love the writing all the more!

WHIMSY is today’s word. Make your writing fancy-free and whimsical. Imagine new worlds. Reach new heights or depths. Create characters that only you have the ability to solidify through your unique technique. Have fun, and as you do, write to your heart’s content!

On the flip side, reading should showcase whimsy as well. Think of those new worlds that the author has penned and immerse yourself in it. Come out of your reading as though you have just gone on a much-needed and wonderful vacation. Enjoy the characters authors have written and think about what you like about them, or for that matter, what you dislike. Without whimsy, reading loses its fun factor.

It is important to always find VALUE in writing and reading. Surely you take a vested interest in one or the other, or both. After all, you’re the one penning your words or choosing what to read. So, value your writing and reading techniques. Trust what you know, what you write, what you choose to read, and encourage yourself as you go to think of new characters and new ideas, or to find new stories to peruse.

See strengths your writing exhibits as you put it down on paper or type it out. However, don’t forget to look for areas to improve. It’s the mark of a great, gifted writer when he or she can see areas that are lacking and in need of refinement. And it’s the mark of a great, gifted reader when he or she can pinpoint the words and phrases that stand out most as reasons for adding books to their queue.

Today’s April A to Z Challenge word is UNIFORMITY. Don’t conform to normal writing approaches. This isn’t to say that some of those approaches shouldn’t be used, because they should be. Take into account all approaches that other writers have used to make their writing magical, creative, and interesting. When you make your writing put on a “uniform,” you aren’t allowing it to bask in its own glory. Let your writing take its own form. Let is whisk you off into other worlds and help you understand your own style and approach.

At the same time, don’t let uniformity rule your reading. Try out different genres and different authors. Consider the perspectives of characters who you didn’t like and figure out why they may have been “forced” by the author of the work to act in the way they did. Even if you hate a character, think about how your hatred fuels how much you enjoy the rest of the writing (hopefully!). By refusing to conform, you are allowing yourself access to new, unique, and exciting ways of thinking about writing and reading.

TACT is important in both writing and reading. Word choice is essential. It makes the difference to writers who want to make their words flow effortlessly on the page, and it makes the difference to readers who want to be inspired and energized by those same words. Writers don’t want to fall into the trap of using too strong or too juvenile of language, but they want to be aware of the audience for whom they are writing. Sometimes one reader might love the writer’s way with words, while another may think something is lacking.

Writers must gauge their intended audience and see what words and phrases best fit. When writing dialogue, write how a person talks – not necessarily with proper grammar. Understanding your characters will help your writing become more tactful, and will help readers see that tact at work.

The term can also be used to consider how to be tactful when writing reviews and always remembering to say something nice, even if you thought most everything else about the writing was not good. I’ve mentioned it in past posts, but you have to always keep in mind that writing is subjective and goes off of a writer’s whims, while reading is also subjective and goes off of a reader’s whims. We would all do well to remember this, and note how tact can help create an atmosphere of respect between writers and readers.

Today’s word is SPORTSMANSHIP. When writing, give your characters competitive edges. Let them work both for and against one another to make more compelling, animated writing. You want to keep readers on the edges of their seats by keeping characters on those same edges. Make characters so vivid that readers are rooting for or against them as they deal with written conflicts and emotions.

Readers also need to be sportsmanlike. This includes having respect for writers and the way they pen their words. Everyone is working to create something sensational, so even if it isn’t quite as high up there on that scale for you, give the benefit of the doubt that someone thinks it’s great, because there definitely is someone out there who does. It’s also worthwhile to think of the characters in the books you read as your teammates. You either need to get on board with them and what they’re doing or hate them, but one way or the other, you have to be invested in them to make your reading worthwhile.

Have you ever read a book, watched a show, or listened to a song and wondered how in the name of good writing certain lines got uttered? Consider RESPECT, today’s A to Z Challenge word. Maybe you’ve wondered how certain writers keep their jobs or how they continue to publish? Respect quality writing. Prove you know what makes good, impressive writing by reading great authors’ works and aspiring to the greatest heights with your own. Not only should you respect others’ writing, but you should respect your own. If you don’t respect what you do or what you love, how will others?

Readers must also respect authors. This comes mainly in the form of reviews. Much of the time, reviews end up being about what readers didn’t like about a book. They may not have liked the ending, for example, but it is important to always remember that fiction writing is extremely subjective. Anyone can think anything they want. Just because one person didn’t like the ending doesn’t mean that everyone who read it didn’t like it. Marking a book down based on how you are unhappy with the way a story ended can be upsetting to a writer who worked hard to make that ending happen. Not everyone will like everything written all of the time – it’s impossible! – but a story can end in a number of ways, and there will always be someone who wishes it would have ended differently. Conveying a sense of respect for the writers who pen the work and, conversely, for the readers who read it, is essential from an author’s and a reader’s perspective. Without respect, sharing writing among writers and readers will not be the happy medium it has the extreme potential to be.

QUALITY may seem an overdone characteristic, but it is absolutely essential. You may have heard that quality is more important than quantity. In good writing, this rings true. Quantity looks good on paper (the more you have, the more work you did, right?), but the truth is that too much of something can be troublesome. Readers want the words on the page to stand out to them, and they want to be transported into the world or topic that is being written about. They want escape (see yesterday’s post on PURPOSE), and in that case, quality clearly overrides quantity. Having more of a good thing can be fantastic, of course, but it must all be a good thing, or else readers will become tired of reading words that don’t help their purpose, which is to read something that engages them and encourages more reading.

Sometimes writers find themselves becoming repetitive if they have done too much writing. This can be hard for writers who need to find new ways to express themselves, and it can be hard for readers who do not want to read the same ideas over and over again. Writers must season their work with quality, peppering it with all the ABCs that are staples of their process. Readers will be happy, and writers will bask in the glory of completing their task to their readers’ satisfaction.