About Saying More Than

Post 1620:

Efficient writing is cool. Why make someone’s eyes do more than they have to? That would be not cool.

Sophisticated, slender prose can be achieved by precision. Fastidious word choice. Economy of language. It can also be achieved by saying more than you’re saying.

There are times in stories when a character does or says something that is an observation for its own sake. There are times when the writer writes something for his or her own sake.

Usually, not cool.

Every word and sentence should be doing stuff. Hopefully, lots of stuff.

Here’s a little chunk of words from a skilled wordman, Percival Everett. It concerns the dreary business of checking his mother into an assisted living community:

We walked outside to the grounds and the real sadness of the place took me. An old woman reached to me with her eyes as I passed her wheelchair, asking if I could tell her something, tell her that I knew her, anything. They were all old, all waiting. Some seemed in good enough spirits. Most were women.

In a very small bit of writing, we get a lot. It’s not so much the place but the people that drive reality home. The desperation of a resident is amped by repetition of tell her. It’s mirroring his own desperation, in a way. He says they’re waiting. We kinda know what he means. But then again, maybe not. Not like he knows for sure. And mostly women? Well, that’s a statement on what he sees and on society. Women live longer. So yeah, more women.

I dig writers like Everett and strive to be as efficient. This goes for normal people communication as well. People generally respond well to short and sweet. Rambling is mostly annoying, but it’s cool for song titles. Drop the mic. Go.

Cheers and see you after.