More of this amazing work http://bit.ly/5Me43I
My friend Stuart Silverstone just sent me a link to a page of amazing photographs, like the one you see here. The artist paints himself to match the background, and thus when photographed appropriately, literally “fades into the background.”
Camouflage: it’s an important lesson. Sometimes you want to hide things in plain sight. Other times, you want them to stand out. The wonderful thing about writing is that it enables you to do both.
Are you making an important point to your reader? Then don’t let it blend with the colors of the background. Use your words to say, “this is something important, something to which you should pay attention.” Make your point into a heading. Define it. Talk about why it is important.
Perhaps you are writing to a reader who is in a stressful situation. You want to acknowledge the situation, but you don’t want to dwell on it. That situation is not your topic: it is the backdrop for your message. “Since September 11, 2001, teachers in New York City have had to deal with the effects of the events of that day on their students. Here is a list of best practices developed by a group of teachers…”
Foreground; background; it’s your choice. Don’t let your messafe gets lost in the background accidentally, and don’t allow the background to take over your prose when that is not your intention.
