Chunking It Down

Chunking It Down

MoreThelly

"The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think."
-- Edwin Schlossberg

As you write your stories ask yourself if you create an atmosphere within your story that causes the reader to think:

Did they chuckle over the same memory?

Did you perhaps cause a tear of remembrance in that person?

Did they feel that their time was well spent reading your piece?

If your stories aren't fulfilling this purpose, you probably need to *chunk it down*

"Whatever you're working on, take small bites. The task will not be overwhelming if you can reduce it to its smallest component."
--Richard Russo, Writer's Digest - February 2003

"Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very'; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be."
--Mark Twain

I don't know if you tend to *gild the lily* like I do...sometimes my writing is just *wordy* and and I need to cut the fat.

I call it *chunking it down*

I read this in Writers Digest.

Got padding? Nancy Kress tells how small-scale surgery can transform your draft into lean, salable fiction:

"Words that add no new information or aren't repeated for emphasis are just padding. A sentence may carry three or five or eight of them, each one as unnoticeable as an extra two ounces on your hips but collectively adding up to a large burden of fat."

"Ridding your prose of padding will pick up the pace considerably, since pace just means how much new information a reader receives per each, say, 100 words. Fat-free prose is cleaner, crisper, quicker."

"Here are four tips to help you write a healthy story:

1. Only give pertinent information once unless you're using repetition for literary effect. Redundancy undermines your authority and annoys readers.

2. When deciding whether or not to include explanation, trust your readers to know as much as you. Over- explanation is insulting.

3. Pick up the pace by cutting any word, phrase or sentence that doesn't offer new information or emphasize a crucial aspect of your story.

4. Cut out important connections to create suspense, surprise and increased reader involvement."


Write on, (More) Thelly