Have you ever picked up a novel, read it, and come to the conclusion that it wasn’t much, too long, overblown, and lacking in substance? I have done it often and will certainly put up with it again. I have read more than a few short stories that have been filled in and published as novellas or even full novels. Perhaps I have what Hemingway called a “built-in bullshit detector,” since I can feel this padding instinctively. It has become a quirk that irritates me.
I recently read, on Kindle, a crime thriller novel. Though competently written, it was replete with unnecessary scenes, subplots, table dialogue, descriptions, and comments about the dishes being served. A good, serious editor would have removed this excess baggage and reduced it to the short story it really was.
Is this inflation done by accident or by design? I would say both, but most of the time by accident. I’m sure many writers just get carried away with their brilliance and feel that they just have put all these things inside; they I love it, so why won’t the reader? I feel it in myself, writing descriptive material that reads very well, but doesn’t advance the story one iota and even clogs things up. The job of a content editor is to bring us back down to earth. But what if we like being up there and don’t want to come down? In this era of digital self-publishing this is a problem, isn’t it? We go ahead and publish.
Many writers in this Kindle era shun publishers as interlopers trying to destroy the purity of their ideas and narrative flow. Why pay someone to cut your work to tapes and turn your story into theirs? And today such writers are free to reject all editorial restrictions and publish. A publisher would exercise control over this nonsense and employ their in-house editors.
On the other hand, I’ve heard of editors encouraging writers to “up” their work in order: “It’s good, but it’s a little lean. Can’t you fill it out a bit? Add a few scenes, more characters.” It’s wrong, I think.
One of Elmore Leonard’s 10 tips for writers is: “Always skip the parts that people tend to skip and don’t read..” Sounds like good advice to me. And with that in mind, I try to apply strict self-discipline.
It is important for writers to recognize who they are and what they are capable of. And a writer who knows his limitations has a powerful asset. Few writers could seriously take a War and peace. It took genius to produce David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol; but, like Tolstoy, Dickens was a genius. Such writers are rare on the ground.
In addition to the ability to write well and tell a story, a fiction writer must have a good imagination. He should be able to weigh a story idea for what it’s worth. What could be an excellent short story can become a poor novel that requires padding to make the weight. but it won’t punch His weight
A recent short story of mine created a bit of a sensation when I posted it on a website in Thailand. I received emails suggesting turning it into a novel. I seriously thought about it. Yo could to do it, but it wouldn’t be the same story anymore, so I rejected the idea. It’s a short story and it’s going to stay that way.
Some writers are destined for short stories. Jack London, always one of my favorite authors, was one. Jack was a great writer, but he never wrote a great novel. However the did write a great novel The call of nature, a literary triumph that never runs out and has been filmed many times. However, he will be remembered for the magnificent tales of him, tales of the Yukon Gold Rush and the South Pacific Islands. The short piece of him: make fire It has been voted the greatest short story of all time. But try to find his novels.
The Kindle-led indie revolution that put an end to the injustices of the old publishing dictatorship has no more support than me. But hasn’t the pendulum swung too far? Because it also has its negative side; he is totally undisciplined. Now anyone can post anything. And they do.
Meet Priscilla Anne Case, 22, who works on the Costco checkout line in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She’s never written anything beyond an email, but she’s about to write a paranormal romance saga, replete with vampires and neo-Nazi white supremacists, in the form of a two-thousand-word, ripped-bodice trilogy. She can even publish each book as a four-part box set. Cheer up, girl, there’s nothing stopping you.
An old adage says that if you take a hundred thousand chimpanzees, give each one an easel, a canvas and a palette of paints, in a year you will get a Rembrandt. In the indie world it seems that we are still waiting for our literary Rembrandts. But wait. Maybe they are there; Beautiful, magnificently written books in every genre, just waiting to be found, hidden beneath the surface of that sad sea of bloated mediocrity that is the Amazon slush pile.