 For Authors: October 02, 2013 Issue [#5925] |
  For Authors
This week: The Parts That People Skip Edited by: Jeff  
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"Some writers enjoy writing, I am told. Not me. I enjoy having written.
-- George R.R. Martin
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THE PARTS THAT PEOPLE SKIP
Elmore Leonard, who just recently passed away, was famous for his western and crime novels, among them Get Shorty and Out of Sight, both of which were turned into big screen Hollywood movies. He was asked once about how he's able to write so well and why his books are so enjoyable, and his advice was simply, "I try to leave out the parts that most people skip." 
That relatively simple advice has stuck with me over the years. I've read countless books, articles, essays, and short stories where I've found myself skimming over sentences, paragraphs, or even entire pages as I tried to move through the text. And not necessarily because those parts were particularly poorly written or didn't have a sense of style to them, but I think because, inherently, I knew they weren't integral to the plot or moving it forward. As a screenwriter, I was taught that every line, every sentence should move the story forward (granted, screenwriters only get about 20,000 words to tell their story, and most if that is dialogue!), and I instinctively tend to skip over long passages of detail or description once I start to get a sense that the paragraph or page doesn't really have a sense of forward momentum. That's not to say that I can't appreciate a book that has colorful and descriptive prose, but I have to be in the mood for it. When I'm reading a Dan Brown thriller, I'm not looking for six paragraphs on the texture and color of the wallpaper in each room. 
It turns out that Elmore Leonard has the same general approach. For anyone who's read his books, you know that they're very active and things move along at a brisk pace. Even if there isn't a murder or a shoot-out in every scene, there's a sense of momentum in his writing, and he doesn't waste a lot of words with the minutiae or the details. And I think there's some wisdom in that.
I find the people who can write voluminous amounts of words about the smallest detail fascinating. I am in awe of their ability to create a deep and rich sense of setting, ambiance, and detail with so many words. But I'm also in awe of writers like Elmore Leonard, who can tell a story in such a streamlined and efficient way that I don't skip over a single paragraph, sentence, or even word.
As writers, we all have to find our own individual style that works for us. Some of us will naturally write with a more sparse, direct cadence to our writing, and others will write with a richer, more detailed sense of their world. But I wonder if we can't learn something from a master like Elmore Leonard and, at the very least, even if we're fans of using lots of words to describe the details, find a way to leave out the parts that most people skip. Of course, finding those parts is another matter entirely...
Until next time,
-- Jeff
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