Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

Less is more and other axioms…or?

Some days, I like being the devil’s advocate. This is one of those.

Writing teachers and critics advocate, “Less is more.” I, too, am guilty of that, most of the time.

I have been wondering, however, if this advice is given for “How to get published for money.” I have also been wondering if getting published is the ultimate goal. I mean, and then what? There are already gazillions of unsold books in the market.

Then of course there is the peer pressure and homogenizing influence of the prominent publishing media and those of us who serve it. Under all these influences, we are conditioned like Pavlov’s dogs to produce the predictable, accepted forms of work. When I say less is more, I always wonder what happened to the freedom of search, the freedom of a wandering mind. What if some stories are left open-ended? What if an incident is seen from many angles with each angle profusely explored? Wouldn’t we have the courage and will to read through long passages if those passages are written beautifully?

But then, maybe not. We are now conditioned to instant satisfaction and fast action. It is difficult to turn back from the contemporary creative ideology.

If a prolific author writing in the “less is more” mode produces volumes of work, wouldn’t he fall into the trap of using the same expressions, phrases, and modifications of words, book after book? I have seen this happen, not with every writer but with some, especially those with ardent followers and many books.

For novice writers, it may be a viable thing to follow instruction until the craft is well honed, but if all writers write in the same way, where will the art of writing take us?

Maybe we should let ourselves wander around a bit…just to see what happens. Possibly, we’ll really realize our individual potentials. Possibly, we’ll find a different way of looking at the world and our craft. So why not a slow-moving fiction that shape-shifts into a thought dump, just for the sake of play?

In the meantime, I will still continue advocating the axioms tailored by the publishing industry. After all, we all have to live by them.

Then, there is one more fact: writing gives me a high. Because of this high, I feel the need to question everything.

Anyhow, this chewing the cud happened because of my own reaction to an epic-sized historical novel I am reading at the moment. Inside my mind, I objected when the novel continued on after the death of the person who I felt was the primary character. Still, the novel is interesting and I am not about to give up on it. And…my own reaction surprised me.

Afterwards, I thought of the writers of one or more centuries hence. They all went on and on, moralizing and philosophizing on any given subject, while they told their stories, even those authors who wrote for the stage with the “bare bones” creed.

Because I am conditioned by today’s understanding, I find some of the ancients difficult to bear. Yet when I was fourteen, I had the guts and the will to read through Dante, and I enjoyed it. I also read the other lengthy, open-ended, or meandering classics with much more patience then, before I was conditioned.

It doesn’t mean that I don’t approve of today’s teaching. Actually, I do and a lot. On the other hand, maybe it is a good idea to experiment a little bit.