I Make Way Too Many Winky Faces

It’s a bad sign when you feel the urge to emoticon your way through a scene.

I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure that’s frowned upon in screenplay formatting 101. Any script readers out there want to set me straight, I’m all ears.

Courtesy of ConfettiDrop.com

But I’m addicted to winky faces. It seems impossible to communicate an attempt at humor without one. This fact is freshly driven home as I’m getting to know new people in a new place, and I’m realizing not everyone gets it right away when I’m joking. Which begs the question, how will readers/directors/actors know when it’s time to be funny and when it’s time to be insulting? Because let’s face it, if you don’t realize someone’s kidding that’s usually the alternative.

There are several times I’ve been watching a movie and someone delivers a line in a way that makes it obvious they have no idea what the writer intended to convey. Which makes me nervous. I’m afraid someone will read my script and not think it’s funny because they don’t realize it’s supposed to be.

Like Napoleon Dynamite.

If you feel bad for Napoleon, you’ve missed the whole point. But somebody got Napoloeon and his nutty cast of friends and family – someone read that script and realized it was all a joke. So my burning question is: how many winky faces did it take? I’m guessing at least two ;o)

But back to emoticons, they are a tricky subject. I’ve never had much use for anything other than the usual smiley (mine has a nose) and of course, my beloved winky face. The multitude of yellow globular faces with the animated grimaces and accessories? Not for me. Which is tricky, because sometimes apps and software are programmed to turn my harmless, no-frills smiley into a garish lemon with bug-eyes, and that is just plain embarrassing.

I’ve been reading pages from a friend working on his novel, and it is making me want to write more. So even though I didn’t really have something to write about today, I wrote it anyway. I hope this brief contemplation of winky faces and the places they occupy in our writing is helpful to anyone who might have read this far down.

Join me next time as I explore the paradigm of branding, and why I can’t seem to nail down what this blog is all about. Feel free to comment with your preferred means of conveying textual emotion.

Peace.