• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Marilyn Horowitz

Marilyn Horowitz

Screenwriting Classes, Coaching, and Resources

212-600-1115
  • Home
  • About
  • Writing Services
  • Guidance
    • Writing Evaluation
    • Writing Guidance
    • Comprehensive Packages
    • Ongoing Coaching
  • Classes & Seminars
    • New York University Classes
    • Seminars
    • Free Video Tutorials
    • Movie Breakdowns
    • Online Stores
  • Books & Media
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Word of the Day
    • Free Word of the Day Webinar
    • What people are saying about the Word of the Day Practice!

Language Is Complicated – A Brief Defense of Twitter

December 31, 2009 by Marilyn Horowitz

There’s a moment in the trailer for It’s Complicated when Alec Baldwin says “OMG, I thought he’d never leave.”

It made me laugh but my friend hunched their shoulders and said, “I hope OMG is added to this year’s list of banned words.”

I admit I had never heard of the list before and was intrigued to see that it’s been around for a few years, with 24/7″ (2000), “it is what it is” (2008), “happy camper” (1993), “LOL” (2004) and “state of the art” (1993) all making the list in years past.

This year, “tweet,” “shovel ready” and “czar” are on the list.

My friend’s reaction reminded me of the first time I heard someone dismiss Twitter as the “end of language.”

Working in the English department of New York University, I am constantly meeting people who dismiss new technologies as bad for the English language and who expect me to share their opinion.

I do not.

Since the development of blogs, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites, I have seen my students writing more often than ever before. Oh sure, it might just be a line about what they’re doing at that moment but they are writing.

Also, having to stick to a predetermined number of characters has forced them to write with an economy that serves their longer pieces well. For the first time they write what they mean.

There will always be good writers and bad writers working in any and all of the mediums available to us. For every pithy Twitter post I have read, I have seen a dozen terrible books. And vice-versa.

I don’t care if it takes a Kindle to get you reading or a blank 140-character box to get you writing, as long as you do.

Good luck and happy writing.

Primary Sidebar

Sign Up

for our Screenwriting Newsletter and Receive Our FREE Gift Top 15 Common Mistakes Made in Writing a Screenplay.

Testimonials

Thank you. If it hadn’t been for you Marilyn, I don’t think I would have made the Woodstock film which… Read more “Nancy C.”

I’m very grateful to be able to learn from Marilyn, Her focus on the psychological and spiritual foundations necessary to… Read more ““…grateful to learn from Marilyn””

Marilyn’s techniques helped me stop overthinking and start writing! She gave me exercises to take the pressure off beginning a… Read more “The Word of the Day”

You are always a light. Thank you.

Desiree

“Working with Marilyn Horowitz has challenged every aspect of my creative process from conception to preparation, and most importantly, execution.… Read more “– Larry Lowry”

- Larry Lowry
Writer/Producer, Nickelodeon
View All Testimonials

Television Writing Evaluation & Guidance

Screenwriting Evaluation & Guidance

Classes & Seminars

Footer

Connect

Contact

CLASSES

Contact the office at 212-600-1115

MEDIA & SPEAKING INQUIRIES

Contact Marilyn Horowitz at 212-600-1115

PUBLISHING & FILM INQUIRIES

Contact Koehler Books at 757-289-6006

  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Home
  • About
  • Writing Services
  • Guidance
    • Writing Evaluation
    • Writing Guidance
    • Comprehensive Packages
    • Ongoing Coaching
  • Classes & Seminars
    • New York University Classes
    • Seminars
    • Free Video Tutorials
    • Movie Breakdowns
    • Online Stores
  • Books & Media
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Word of the Day
    • Free Word of the Day Webinar
    • What people are saying about the Word of the Day Practice!
Copyright © 2023 · Marilyn Horowitz. All rights reserved.