 For Authors: January 17, 2018 Issue [#8711] |
  For Authors
This week: K.I.S.S. Edited by: Jeff  
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"Do not over-intellectualize the production process.
Try to keep it simple: tell the darned story."
-- Tom Clancy
Trivia of the Week: Toni Morrison is one of the most awarded authors of all time. On her trophy shelf you'll find, among a lot of other hardware, a National Book Critics Circle Award, an American Book Award, a Pulitzer Prize, a Nobel Prize, the National Book Foundation's Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, a National Humanities Medal, a Norman Mailer Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the French Legion of Honor, a PEN/Saul Bellow Award, and honorary doctorates from Harvard, Oxford, Rutgers, and the University of Geneva.
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K.I.S.S.
In 1960, the United States Navy popularized the KISS Principle, an acronym coined by Kelly Johnson of Lockheed Martin that stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid. Essentially, it means that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than being made complicated, and therefore you should prioritize simplicity as a key design concept when creating something. In Johnson's case, as the lead engineer of the program that designed spy planes, he would provide his team with a handful of simple tools, telling his engineers that whatever they designed needed to be simple enough to be repaired by an average mechanic in the field under combat conditions using only the tools available at hand.
The KISS Principle is hardly the first attempt at emphasizing the importance of simplicity. Occam's Razor was developed in the 13th Century and stated that, among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions (i.e., simpler) is better. Leonardo da Vinci was quoted a few hundred years later as saying, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." And Mies Van Der Rohe coined the phrase, "Less is More" in the early 20th Century. What appeals to me about Kelly Johnson's KISS Principle, though, is its application to design.
Writers are ultimately designers. We design plots and characters and arrange them in a particular way to achieve a desired result. Engineers design machines, architects design structures, composers design music, and writers design stories.
There are times when writers overcomplicate the process of designing their stories. I'm just as guilty as anyone else, perhaps even more so because I find it fascinating to read about (and write newsletters about  ) different processes and techniques writers can use to create and market their work. But sometimes it's worth remembering that there is an elegance to simplicity. Sometimes it's worth remembering that storytelling really boils down to two things: interesting characters and a compelling story.
If you're the kind of writer who enjoys experimenting with different kinds of techniques and methodologies, that's great. Keep at it. But also remember that above all, more than any system or device or technique, writing is fundamentally about the simple process of telling a story. Don't be afraid to just Keep It Simple Sometimes. 
Until next time,
Jeff
If you're interested in checking out my work:
"Blogocentric Formulations"
"New & Noteworthy Things"
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EXCERPT: William Shakespeare said “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.”
I am one who also has a lot of self-doubt. I have come to realize however that for me personally there is a cure for my doubt. I find comfort in my faith in Jesus Christ. While I may turn the judges of the Writer’s Cramp off by saying that, particularly if they are not Christian, I am merely expressing how I personally deal with doubt. My way may not work for everybody and that is perfectly acceptable. The God I serve does not go around twisting anybody’s arm saying “Believe in me or I will do this, this, or that.”
EXCERPT: There is a flash, and a bolt of lightning illuminates the pre-dawn sky, right in front of my car on my way to work. It is an impressive sight, but this is not an impressive storm. There is a little lightning, some gentle rolling thunder, and a soft watering of the earth. In Nebraska, you have to try harder than that to impress us. We expect claps of thunder that cause young colts to dash across the field, and lightning shows that can turn night into day, or for hours show us a kaleidoscope of color dancing in a bank of clouds as they roll in from the western horizon. Then, in the quiet of the hot, sticky-humid summer afternoon, the very air will turn a sickly green, the birds and insects will fall silent.
EXCERPT: I guess when you go through life you find happiness and also the sorrows. It’s a balance everyone goes through. When I was young and carefree, I thought everything was great. When I was around four or so, I remembered seeing Santa Claus talking to my mom and dad. I told my brother and he wouldn’t believe me, because he was five years older than me and already knew there wasn’t any Santa Claus. Well, he didn’t tell me that, but I wondered how he could be so sure. To this day it’s such a vivid memory.
EXCERPT: It is the human body’s exposure to oxygen that makes it slowly decay that leads to our (natural) deaths and yet we need oxygen. So I find it interesting that we practically need death because it leads to me ask “Why do we need to die?”
Now if I were to ask a pessimist or a cynic, they’d probably say something along the lines of,
“Because humanity is a blight upon this world. We destroy our planet and need to be eradicated.” And go on to remark about global warming, species going extinct, and the loss of rainforests to support this claim.
Now me being a creative, think that answer to be very small pictured and too easy of an answer to sate my creatively fueled curiosity.
EXCERPT: Inscribed on the pediment of the temple of Apollo are the words “Know thyself”.
Who am I? To find the answer to this question, I first delved into the murky waters of philosophy because throughout human history this question has sent philosophers to the agora and seekers to the oracles. Two stories in particular helped me to solve this existential problem; Plato’s interpretation of Heraclitus’s “river fragments” and the paradox of Theseus’s ship.
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Feedback from my last newsletter about Lilly Singh's book How to Be a Bawse ("For Authors Newsletter (December 20, 2017)" ):
DB Cooper  writes: "Happy New Year!!!!!! I feel so grateful for your newsletter."
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