Fantasy Friday

Ok, my earlier post stunk. It bored me to tears... Let's have a little more end-of-the-week fun.

Here's the scenario:

You've been shipped out to an exotic island, one where you'll have access to everything you need to write a novel. You have a deadline of 2 calendar years to complete it. Beyond the bare essentials, you are allowed to bring one person and one object. Here's the catch though, you and your mystery guest can talk ONLY about your novel. Nothing else! They are to be your idea sparker, your muse, your... you get the idea. As for the object, it can be anything, so long as it will help you write your novel successfully.

Who is the 1 person you bring?

What is the 1 object you bring and the reason it will help?

Eagle Eye

When I look at my art, whether sketches or paintings, I have something of an eagle eye. I can see the most minute problems from any distance. They stand out, they scream, "FIX ME! I'M RIGHT HERE!" Sometimes, they add character to the art, other times it really is an issue that needs to be fixed.

Writing is no different. Last night I had the opportunity to scan through a rough draft of a short story, that I needed to submit, and I saw the glaring issues. My eagle eye shot through all the bull and went straight for the kill.

Question: Is it easy or difficult to spot the trouble in your WIP? I'm not talking about grammar or spelling. I'm not even talking about formatting in any way. I'm talking about the story trouble. Those loop holes or issues that take a story from being sub-par to great.

Sheesh...Cut it out!

We spent a bit of time last week, in creative writing class, doing some edits to editing our short stories. It's often been said that "sometimes less is more," and this is certainly the case in writing. You can read a myriad of 'how-to' books on writing and find suggestions for keeping it straight forward and to the point, but nothing quite impacts you like reading a book and saying out loud, "c'mon c'mon, get to the point already."

If you've found yourself saying that, it's likely that the writer could have cut out some unnecessary words, sentences or even whole paragraphs.

So, what's the point!?

The point is pretty much summed up in that phrase. "Sometimes less IS more." Give it a try. Take a look at your WIP and see if there's anything you could reasonably cut out. You may be sharpening your story!