Simplicity

I often come across blogs and writer instruction that tout the attitude that "Less is more." While I agree wholeheartedly with this philosophy, it's sometimes far more complicated to make a scene or even a sentence, simple and short, than it is to make it long and drawn out. You're faced with trying to create something simple using few words. That requires one to have a commanding grasp of a lot of descriptive words. This is difficult for many us on so many different levels. It's the writers who seem to have an eidetic memory that are making these claims for simplicity. (I don't know about you, but I ain't one of them). I agree that every writer should try to make things as simple for the reader as possible. It frees up the reader from being saddled or slowed down trying to figure out what's being said or described. But there's a cost trade off here. Make it too simple and you lose artistry and detailed description. Make it too detailed or flowery and you slow the reader down and in some instances, lose them entirely. Nothing is more disappointing for an author than to hear someone put their story down because they either got bored with it or the wordage was too much for them to enjoy.

As I've wrestled with the final revisions to Starbird II: Calypso's Run, some of the hardest revisions I've had to make, are to simple sentences that must say a lot without a lot of description. I've found, for me, it's easy to describe things in pretty good detail and create some good imagery, but in some places, imagery must come from simplicity, using few words. Those can be some of the hardest elements an author has to deal with, at least it is for me. But if I take a step back and try to look at it from other perspectives, I've found it's so important to have that type of structure, in places. The test of this truth comes from not only the betas and editors, but ultimately, the readers who come and enjoy the adventure, and that's what it's all about. Enjoying the adventure.

I love the notion that, "Less is More" and "More is Less." It plays right in there with, "Let's get to the rat killin'". Why waste someone's time with a lot of pointless description when you could find a great descriptive word to drop in there somewhere and let it take hold of the reader and let their imagination carry them away? It is, after all, their chosen adventure.

I'm not without fault here. My first book, "Thulsa's Gate", while not a literary work of art, contains a lot of descriptive detail that could have been condensed using a few great words instead of a lot of smaller less descript words to arrive at the same ends. It was my first novel though, I get a pass as it was a great story and I have yet to receive a poor review. Worst one came from my brother David. Of all people. He loved it, but gave it a lower rating because he couldn't get his little brother's voice out of his head. I ask you.... I digress.

I guess the way to gain the needed vocabulary to achieve, simplicity in a sentence, is through repetition. So, if Starbird II: Calypso's Run is written better than Starbird I: Oneida's Fury, and better than Thulsa's Gate, then it stands to reason the final book in the Starbird trilogy, Starbird III: Calliope's maze, will be off the chart awesome. I'm glad all this makes sense.