A thought on writing: Fridays with Joe

"We'd like to know how close you've got your ear to the ground. There's a gang of bunks in town. They're working hard," says Jack Webb, with the famous staccato Joe Friday delivery.

Nobody tells it like Jack. If Joe Friday talked any other way, the lines would lose their camp credibility. Striking the right tone when writing is so important. I want my topics to sound as fun as I think they are, but I worry that my tone is too flippant.

The less "serious" a topic is, the more "serious" the writing style should be? Or is that how those horridly pretentious bits of cultural history are created? I think so. The best way to admit that you realize the potential criticisms of the validity of your topic is to address it tongue planted firmly in cheek. The more serious you sound about things like tomato sauce ads or The Wizard of Oz as lesbian fantasy, the less credible or believable you are. If you write as if there is an inside joke between you and your reader, there will be an inside joke and a connection with that reader.

Now, if only there were such a thing as "just the facts", we'd be all set.