Monday, January 16, 2012

On Wordiness

Sorry for the lack of posts last week--I know you were afraid I'd died of the common cold. Nope, I caved and went for some antibiotics, and I'm feeling almost like myself again. Did anyone watch the Golden Globes last night? Maybe I need to watch this movie again, but I did not love The Descendants when I saw it in the theater last month. I think my perception was skewed by my expectation that it would be funny like Sideways, when it was actually horribly depressing.

So I was going over my WIP recently, for the millionth time, and I have to say it never fails to amaze me how many superfluous words I end up cutting every time I do a pass. So many words! I think I tried to use every possible word on my first draft. I feel like a gardener doing hedge trimming. Are my words sprouting words?

I once thought I might write literary fiction (why? were you like this too?), and so my affection for pretty pretty language still comes through in occasional fits of wordiness. Why use one adjective to describe something when you can use two? Why not include that beautiful turn of phrase, even if it makes the reader scratch his/her head? One nice thing about wordiness though: when you've gained enough objectivity to be able to see it, trimming it out is extremely satisfying. Are you like me, or do you write lean and flesh it out later?

Happy Martin Luther King Day! We're all in this together, so let's be good to one another.

9 comments:

  1. You are not alone. I was pretty disappointed by The Descendants, especially since so many people seem to love it. They spend the whole first part of the movie in voice-over telling us everything we need to know. A little annoying and lazy. Similar things bugged me throughout. (Multiple death bed speeches? Really?)

    I did, however, love The Artist. It's pretty great.

    I tend to write lean and flesh it out in subsequent drafts, but that doesn't mean I'm free of those excess, unnecessary words. They still find a way in, despite my best efforts.

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  2. Oh, this is such a valuable lesson. I have heard that's a big jump between pros and newbies-- learning to take away the superfluous descriptors. Not that I have learned it fully. I write lean, but sometime have repetitive sentences that say the same thing.
    Good to hear about the Descendants- maybe just Clooney love on the part of the HFPA? I haven't seen it, but it does look quirky/funny in the previews.

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  3. I'm the opposite. I find myself having to ADD words because I don't like to describe scenes. Maybe you can give me a little bit of your wordiness? Pleaaaaase! :)

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  4. I'm like alleged author -- I have a hard time filling in my skeleton stories with flesh and blood. I'd love a little wordiness :)

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  5. I adore cutting and slashing, even though cutting some darlings hurts. I aim to find the one description that says more than ten other lines combined.

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  6. I didn't watch the Golden Globes, I think I passed out early on the couch instead, haha.

    But I tend to be a lean writer. I flesh everything out during editing, although I do find some spots where there are two, three adjectives and those long, drawn out paragraphs about a tree.

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  7. I do the same thing! It gives me a good laugh when I go back to edit. I dont watch many movies anymore. Usually got my head in a book.

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  8. I've recently discovered a bad trend in my own editing. I'll cut gargantuan numbers of words in order to trim, trim, trim, only to then add new ones. LOL. No wonder I'm never quite finished with this dang thing.

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  9. The hilarious thing about this is that I have the opposite problem. I hate wordiness so much as an editor that I write WAY TOO short. I feel like everyone has ADD when they read so I better get right to the action. This is a huge fail on my part.

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