Can I say something quickly about brevity? Of course I can, this is my blog last I checked. When I first started writing on here again in a blogging capacity, I kept it short. As you can see that didn’t last long. Not that a 1,000-word blog is really all that long, but 1,000 words of semi-intelligent writing, edited, and published, does represent a fair bit of time spent on my part from time that I already don’t have a great deal of. All that is to say that I want to try staying brief on here when I can.
However, on the subject of brevity, I do have an issue with it in all of my writing. It’s not so much spending too much time painting a picture. I spend too much time trying to connect everything. I spend too much time writing the uninteresting and unnecessary stuff, then I try to make it interesting and necessary instead of cutting it, only to eventually cut it later anyway.
If my main character Is sitting in a bar and from a conversation decides to go to the library, I want to type my way through everything. The exit of the bar, the street, the way to get there, what it looks like on arrival, and every minute detail along the way. Sometimes, I let this happen, knowing full well I am writing stuff that will ultimately be cut just in case it helps me see things differently or uncovers some new detail about location that I had not considered or the story goes in a whole new direction. I will admit though, that sometimes I just need to push through., skip the gristle, and get to the meat.
Is it the most efficient way to write? Not at all, but often my brain works in the written word, and though most of my good ideas start in the mind, writing things through is often how I find solutions to problems. In programming terms, it’s a process akin to rubber duck debugging. Often solving problems requires an outward expression of the idea. For programmers, that might be talking to a duck on your desk about a coding issue. For me, it’s writing and writing and writing until a solution emerges, then likely deleting 90% of what I wrote. The problem is knowing what words are part of the solution and what words aren’t.
The solution to writer’s block, at least for me, has always been more writing. It sounds dumb, but it also makes perfect sense.
Quote of the Moment:
“This is a short book because most books about writing are filled with bullshit. Fiction writers, present company included, don’t understand very much about what they do — not why it works when it’s good, not why it doesn’t when it’s bad. I figured the shorter the book, the less bullshit.”
—Stephen King, On Writing
Current Reads:
Shakespeare’s Planet by Clifford D. Simak
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson