The Pretender’s Potpourri

My first inclination is to speak in generalities, but I’m going to instead post random bits of things that work for me. They might not work for you; that’s fine. Disregard at will. But for 20 minutes I’ll imagine I know something, toss out some thoughts and post them, and perhaps someone will find something helpful.

1. Show, don’t tell, as all the writing instructors say. Never tell your reader what to think when an image will do.

2. While editing, you can probably strike half your adjectives. If you use an adverb, too, you’d better have a damn good reason.

3. Does it really matter what color your character’s eyes are?

4. Listening to the right album or playlist while writing can make a big difference, in no small part because

5. you should never neglect mood.

6. Hemingway for economy (even if he is a bastard) [“Old Man at the Bridge,” “Hills Like White Elephants”], Virginia Woolf for lyricism and her ability to narrate silence [To the Lighthouse, for a start], Thomas Hardy for scene setting linked to narrative vision [Tess of the D’Urbervilles], Joseph Conrad for frame narrative [Heart of Darkness, though Achebe’s right about the racism], Jane Austen for wit and restraint [Pride and Prejudice], Flannery O’Conner for the sickening irony and portrayal of a fallen world [“A Good Man is Hard to Find,” “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”]. The Great Gatsby gets my vote for The Great American Novel (TM). I’ll take Ta-Nehisi Coates over any living essayist I can think of, though I’m less widely read in that genre than I ought to be.

7. And to flip to a different medium for a hastily-considered list, Vertigo, The Virgin Suicides, Moonlight, The Third Man, and The Illusionist, and Tokyo Story all have things to teach a writer.

8. Sections of dialogue become more vivid with properly-timed descriptions of physical actions and setting, which can also provide pacing.

9. Balance the abstract and the concrete.

10. Find a reader and editor you trust (easier said than done, but incredibly valuable and rewarding).

11. Leave your reader space to interpret. Guide the reader, but don’t shoehorn them into a lesson.

12. Being a good Proser means reading, not just writing.