4 ms·
I know coders who push very hard to turn 2000 words into 200.
by KevBurnsJr 18y ago
I know coders who push very hard to turn 2000 words into 200.
- noodle 18y agoyes, well, coding and novel writing have opposite goals. i'll show you. i optimized a classic for you. lord of the rings: evil guy makes magic ring, loses it, good guys get it and he dies when they eventually destroy it.
- sanj 18y agoFrodo survived. It was Gollum that died. I'm not sure anyone considers him a "good guy".
- noodle 18y agothe "he" is in reference to the singular evil guy, maker of the ring, who dies. the "they" reference the plural good guys, who do not. clearly, i forgot to add comments
- palish 18y agoWell, that's what happens when you oversimplify. Unexpected bugs! :)
- nsrivast 18y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangling_modifier http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangling_modifier
- Eliezer 18y ago"Omit needless words!" -- Strunk Read The Elements of Style to find out how novel writing works. Using fewer words is just as much a part of writing as using less code is part of programming.
- noodle 18y agousing fewer words is not the same as optimizing for the fewest words possible.
- qaexl 18y agoElements of Style teaches you how to write clearly and concisely. It doesn't teach you how to write a novel.
- jacobolus 18y agoYour statement is narrowly true, but if you mean to imply that would-be novel writers wouldn’t benefit from internalizing Strunk & White, or that they need not worry about clarity or economy, then I disagree. Eliezer’s point that careful word choice is essential to good writing applies just as much to novels as any other format.
- qaexl 18y agoI think authors would benefit from Elements, though like all strategies, should not be taken as ideology. Apply where necessary. Even Hemmingway did not stick to strictly minimalism. We can also go off on a tangent, and talk about how Strunk & White was published right at the end of the Victorian era, when WWI essentially wiped out the Romanticism ideals of that era. Something similar happened in America after the American Civial War. Mark Twain's writing became darker, gritter -- clearer -- when compared to his earlier works. Post-Civil War, no one wanted to trumpet the glories of war. It took the Europeans another seventy years to catch up. (My little excursion falls apart because both Strunk and White were Americans). I could compare this to martial arts training. Newbies are aweful to look at. They have so much wasted motion. Economy of movement suggests mastery of the art form. Masters condense sophistication into simple movements, fully aware of their potential. They do not merely have simple movements. My main point though, is that there are other skills in writing novels not found in Strunk & White. Good expressive technique does not make a good story. I may agree that Elements is worth using. I don't agree it is the only guide you should study.
- SapphireSun 18y agoThat's like saying I have built a completely generic website producer, all you have to do is code the rest of it to make it suitable for your needs - ie, there is no useful website yet. Writing SHOULD be concise and readable. The difference for novel writing is that you should know what parts of the story are important and write just enough to accomplish your purpose. In the case of Tolkien, it was the journey and environment that were important, thus the deluge of words.
- jd 18y agoThe best shortest short story is still by Hemmingway: "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn"