Complex Numbers

Breaking the Rules

Sometimes when I get reviews, I get entreated to rid my prose of adverbs and stop it with the long synopses. "Show, don't tell," they say - and they're right, and I've often used this same advice in my own reviews. It's easier to spot it in other writers, which is one reason we review.

I've had two classes of my Fiction Writing Workshop now, and it's been useful. Last night, we discussed two "classic" short stories: Chekov's Lady with a Lapdog and Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants. Now, keep in mind that I do not come from a literary background; mostly I just read science fiction, though occasionally I'll branch out. I've read some Hemingway, mostly for school, but I don't recall ever reading Chekov. Watching Chekov - Pavel, not Anton - yes.

I've got nothing bad to say about the Hemingway story; it's tight, focused, and doesn't waste a word. Sometimes you have to look hard to see the subtext, especially if you're used to more accessible stories like I am.

Chekov, now...

Oh, right, what gives me the right to say ANYthing bad about the man who pretty much defined the modern short story form? After all, I haven't even been published.

Well, if I wrote prose like Chekov wrote Lapdog, I'd never be published. Long paragraphs of synopsizing history that barely helps at all with character definition. An entire sentence where every other word is an adverb. Willy-nilly point of view shifts. Never mind the ending; that particular story is as happily-ever-after as a Russian ever gets, and I can live with it. Not only that, but one of the title characters (the lapdog) disappears halfway through the story, and is never so much as mentioned again!

Well. I guess it's a good thing Chekov is long gone - I'd probably have to driveby rate his story with two stars.