This marks the 14th consecutive post I've written for the Suman Latik webring, I think. I keep telling myself that I'll stop any day now, but as everyone can see, I'm still writing.
Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever run out of words to describe suman. Assuming that my posts run at an average of one thousand words each, then that effectively means that I have thirteen thousand words that I have to top for this week. A good chunk of that obviously goes into direct referrals towards the rice delicacy.
Back in high school, one of the first lessons I learned about writing was that you can't continually refer to the same subject multiple times using the same word or phrase. The narration becomes awkward in such a treatment, seeing that it's tantamount to driving the same word into the reader's head over and over again.
Imagine, for example, a paragraph that goes as follows:
I'm not sure whether or not suman latik is healthy to begin with. I mean, just the look of suman latik alone makes you wonder if it's going to clog your arteries or get stuck in your throat. Suman latik is made out of rice to begin with, which means that we're talking large amounts of carbohydrates whenever we ingest a suman latik meal. There's no scientific proof that suman latik has any immediate or long-term health benefits, so for all we know, suman latik may just be one of those many foods that shorten our life spans.
Ugh. I don't know about you, but that looks somewhat off-kilter to me. I'd rather drive concepts into the reader's head, as opposed to singular words or phrases.
Usually I have three different approaches to prevent this from happening. In hindsight, I figure that I've all of them extensively on this blog:
1. Straight description.
I tend to favor dialogue over straight description, but I still believe that this is probably the easiest approach. A good introductory description will get an image stuck to the reader's head regarding a specific object, and if it's done right, then I think that the impact of future continual references gets minimized. In fact, from the moment the image gets visualized, we can theoretically make vague or subtle references to the subject at hand:
The issue with most delicacies, I think, is that we choose to ignore any possible health ramifications in favor of cultural enjoyment. Let's take suman latik, for example. Suman latik, to begin with, is a tube or package of glutinous rice flavored with salt, pepper and/or sugar. It is usually eaten with a special coconut sauce ("latik"), and wrapped in banana leaves for storage.
I'm not sure whether or not suman latik is healthy to begin with. I mean, just the look of the column of rice alone makes you wonder if it's going to clog your arteries or get stuck in your throat. To be sure, we're talking large amounts of carbohydrates whenever we ingest one of those glutinous meals. There's no scientific proof that the banana-wrapped delicacy has any immediate or long-term health benefits, so for all we know, it may just be one of those many foods that shorten our life spans.
The problem with this approach is that straight description tends to lengthen a narrative. While I can see its virtues with regards to, say, a five-thousand-word requirement for literary submissions, there's always the possibility of driving more than a few readers mad with boredom.
2. Analogy.
I love analogy. Analogy -- similes, metaphors, personifications, what have you -- is similar to straight description in that it places an image in the reader's head. It may not be an altogether accurate image, but all that you need to do is access at least one aspect of comparison anyway. Once the reader has an inkling of what you're talking about, then they should be able to connect any future reference to that original comparison.
The issue with most delicacies, I think, is that we choose to ignore any possible health ramifications in favor of cultural enjoyment. Suman latik, that wholesome Filipino rice delicacy, is a lot like escargot in this way: It doesn't look very healthy to begin with, it's got a high amount of carbohydrates, and we have little or no idea as to what health benefits it might have. Yet the French elite continue to consume escargot, just as we continue to eat suman.
Yeah, escargot isn't the best of analogies, but it'll do for this example.
The issue with analogies, of course, is that they only touch on a few aspects of the subject. What's more, I think that it's too easy for the reader to look at the comparison itself, as opposed to looking at the subject to begin with. You're not looking at suman latik, in a way. You're looking at what suman latik has in common with escargot.
3. Subtle reference.
I use this a lot, and I find it strangely easy. It's just a question of finding multiple references to the subject at hand without discussing it to begin with. This places a heavier burden on the reader, since he or she is going to have to know what I'm talking about when it comes to the detailed explanation:
I'm not sure whether or not suman latik is healthy to begin with. I mean, just the look of the stuff alone makes you wonder if it's going to clog your arteries or get stuck in your throat. Suman latik is made out of rice to begin with, which means that we're talking large amounts of carbohydrates whenever we ingest one of those glutinous-rice meals. There's no scientific proof that glutinous rice has any immediate or long-term health benefits, so for all we know, suman latik may just be one of those many foods that shorten our life spans.
This works more, I think, with regards to well-known topics. It's best used sparingly, however, when few people know what you're talking about in the first place. It's not very descriptive, but it makes for a lot shorter text.
Occasionally I take things a step further and wonder if I'm explaining suman latik enough for the non-Filipinos to understand my writings. It's difficult to extrapolate on the aspects of a Filipino delicacy to an audience that mostly hasn't seen it, much less tasted it. In such cases, I do have a fourth method of getting the image to stick to their heads, so to speak:
Yeah, sometimes you just have to take the kid gloves off and show the darn picture. :)
Him1
Her1
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