Thought for the Day The road of excess leads to....

[Paul Whybrow]

“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom...You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough.”​

William Blake

 

[Sedayne]

Does this apply to word counts?

 

[RK Wallis]

Does this apply to word counts?

Speaking from my own experience, I don't think it's word count but I do think it's learning how to cut words for meaning and for reader understanding. You can still write 100,000 words and have every one of them count, but it's learning to see through the clutter of your own words and cutting the clutter back. It's been a while since I've heard @AgentPete say it, but he's shown examples of this in past huddles. Basically, make every word count

 

[Sedayne]

Speaking from my own experience, I don't think it's word count but I do think it's learning how to cut words for meaning and for reader understanding. You can still write 100,000 words and have every one of them count, but it's learning to see through the clutter of your own words and cutting the clutter back. It's been a while since I've heard @AgentPete say it, but he's shown examples of this in past huddles. Basically, make every word count

Yes. Totally agree. I get that. I've managed to cut thousands by careful pruning at a sentence level.

But what this quote encapsulates for me (and maybe my humour just doesn't come across) is the excess of writing more and more extra scenes that really aren't necessary - like my characters opening presents on Christmas morning, or going shopping for guitars -indulgent and in no way crucial to any plot. Even as I write them, I know they'll be cut, but I write for writing's sake, and because I enjoy spending time with my characters. That's the excess for me and way more than enough.
I'm not sure it leads to the palace of wisdom, though...

 

[Hannah F]

Yes. Totally agree. I get that. I've managed to cut thousands by careful pruning at a sentence level.

But what this quote encapsulates for me (and maybe my humour just doesn't come across) is the excess of writing more and more extra scenes that really aren't necessary - like my characters opening presents on Christmas morning, or going shopping for guitars -indulgent and in no way crucial to any plot. Even as I write them, I know they'll be cut, but I write for writing's sake, and because I enjoy spending time with my characters. That's the excess for me and way more than enough.
I'm not sure it leads to the palace of wisdom, though...

My first drafts always have extra scenes that don't move the story forward but are just my characters doing or chatting. Though no one else will see those words, they are never a waste of time or, indeed, at this stage, excess. They help me know my characters and their interrelationships, and they're mostly fun to write. The wisdom is letting these snippets go when I move on to draft 2.

 

[E G Logan]

I'd like to think Blake was talking about words, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't the first thing on his mind. I always imagined he must have had some spectacular hangovers...