Addition By Subtraction by Warren Bull
Last night during the rehearsal of a concert choir I sing in I was reminded of one of the characteristics of good writing — Addition By Subtraction. The man who usually sits next to me during rehearsals did not show up. In the prior rehearsal, he spilled a large cup of coffee. Hot brown liquid spread in my direction, which I found distracting. Over the course of past rehearsals, he has frequently asked where we were in the sheet music.
In general, one of the most important parts of singing in a choir is to stop singing. As the director says, “When you hear yourself giving a solo that’s not in the score, you probably missed a rest.”
That reminds me of Leonard Elmore's advice in his ten rules of writing, "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.”
In the movie, The Big Chill friends gather together after the funeral of their friend, Alex, who committed suicide. Although an actor was originally cast to play Alex in flashbacks, the writers decided to leave the character completely out of the movie, which makes his death truly intriguing.
Secondary characters do not have to be one dimensional to keep the focus on the main players. Sue Grafton had a masterful way of making walk-ons memorable without distracting the reader from the plot. For example, in T is for Trespass, Kinsey interviews a co-worker of a woman she is investigating. The co-worker gives a description of the suspect as a poor caretaker that reveals both the sterling qualities of the suspect described and the narrow-mindedness of the interviewee.
It is sometimes easy to detect the writing where more is less effective. Excessive, many, overdone, and surplus descriptors, for example, do not make a scene more intense. Changing fonts is more distracting than engaging. And overuse of !s make it appear that the characters are repeatedly shouting at each other!!!
What would you like to see less of in writing?
unreliable narrators, now that they're creeping into mysteries.
ReplyDeleteFirst comment is a perfect example of what to leave out!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I think we've been hacked.
A bored reader won't continue with a story, no matter how well-crafted otherwise.
JMJ note: KM's first two lines refer to a spam comment now removed.
ReplyDeleteOther than spam, I get bored with long sets of directions. Unless something happens on the trip, I'd prefer to change scenes and pick up where the action restarts.
The less said the better! I agree with Jim, directions or long descriptions don't do it for me. Hit the highlights and move on to the action.
ReplyDeleteI hate to see a lot of exclamation points. It's a real pet peeve. I love the quote from Elmore Leonard!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jim. Too much description can get boring. I want to to read something that catches my attention and makes me want to read on.
ReplyDelete