My next couple of posts are going to discuss how writers cover ground. I think there's a push/pull in the writing community that says that we need to write enough depth to adequately convey a story, but we need to make sure that what we write is quality and not just pages upon pages of fluff.
The first novel I ever wrote, On Freedom's Wings, was the first place I encountered this problem. Since it was an awful book, On Freedom's Wings has never seen the light of day beyond the few folks I let read it nearly 20 years ago, but as I wrote it, I found myself struggling to give it enough heft to call it a "book." Some of it, especially in the beginning, was filler material that didn't contribute to the story at all. Such fluff made it a plodding read that would've made people skip over large sections just to return to the plot.
However, just as too much stuff in your story that contributes little is a bad thing, you can also make your plot so shallow that no one understands it because you've taken too much for granted. There needs to be sufficient depth for the reader to become invested. Otherwise, you may as well have told a nice campfire story that no one will remember in the morning.
To me, the way to solve this is to first write everything you want about your story. Put in the details and plodding stuff that you think you need to give your book "heft." After all, no one is likely going to see this part anyway. Once that's done, put it away for at least a month. Don't pick it up, don't read it, don't think about it. Then, when sufficient time has passed, go back in with a chainsaw. Read what you wrote and see how you can re-word it all so you can cut it at least in half. Afterwards, give it to a friend or beta-reader and ask them how you can shorten/condense it further. Don't take their critiques personally, and don't let them give plot critiques at this point - this is the time to give your heft depth. Turn quantity into quality.
Of course, all of this presupposes that you've got a story that has sufficient depth in the first place(going back to the campfire example). If your story can fit into three pages yet you wrote 200, ask yourself why your tale was unsupportable over time. But if you can expand while adding, rather than sacrificing, quality, you've got a true novel.
The first novel I ever wrote, On Freedom's Wings, was the first place I encountered this problem. Since it was an awful book, On Freedom's Wings has never seen the light of day beyond the few folks I let read it nearly 20 years ago, but as I wrote it, I found myself struggling to give it enough heft to call it a "book." Some of it, especially in the beginning, was filler material that didn't contribute to the story at all. Such fluff made it a plodding read that would've made people skip over large sections just to return to the plot.
However, just as too much stuff in your story that contributes little is a bad thing, you can also make your plot so shallow that no one understands it because you've taken too much for granted. There needs to be sufficient depth for the reader to become invested. Otherwise, you may as well have told a nice campfire story that no one will remember in the morning.
To me, the way to solve this is to first write everything you want about your story. Put in the details and plodding stuff that you think you need to give your book "heft." After all, no one is likely going to see this part anyway. Once that's done, put it away for at least a month. Don't pick it up, don't read it, don't think about it. Then, when sufficient time has passed, go back in with a chainsaw. Read what you wrote and see how you can re-word it all so you can cut it at least in half. Afterwards, give it to a friend or beta-reader and ask them how you can shorten/condense it further. Don't take their critiques personally, and don't let them give plot critiques at this point - this is the time to give your heft depth. Turn quantity into quality.
Of course, all of this presupposes that you've got a story that has sufficient depth in the first place(going back to the campfire example). If your story can fit into three pages yet you wrote 200, ask yourself why your tale was unsupportable over time. But if you can expand while adding, rather than sacrificing, quality, you've got a true novel.
No comments:
Post a Comment