I have recently going through my books, getting ready to give a bunch away. I am finding that many writers of fiction are in need of a ruthless editor.
An editor should prevent a writer from falling in love with his own writing. We all do it, getting hung up on the beautiful images and profound messages we write. The problem is, the imagery is, usually, only effective if it doesn't interfere with the story. Otherwise, it rapidly grows tiresome and distracting. Messages should be apparent from the story line and character development. If you have to explicitly spell out a story's message, your story has failed.
There are exceptions, although I know of no one among current writers that I would include on my very short list. Faulkner, Melville, Lowry, Kesey, Dickens, Kerouac. Guys like this were brilliant and, they had the advantage of writing for a very literate audience. Today, their style of writing would not be popular and, to be blunt, most readers would not understand what was being written.
When it comes to non fiction, be it book, blog, news story, or instruction manual, editors must be in short supply. Spelling and grammar mistakes are common, and when faced with the option of using a few, well-chosen words or long rambling, barely comprehensible presentation, most choose the latter.
As a rule, unless you are a literary genius, keep things simple.
Happy New Year
No comments:
Post a Comment