[Salgueiros]

Words and writing are an art too, so you can say the same thing using a couple or lots of words and be good or bad in either case.

I prefer a good and elegant style of writing and that has nothing to do with word use. I have read concise texts that were rubbish and loong monologues about a single subject that were a delight to read.

I like Saramago, adore Proust and admire Sandor Marai, Nabokov and Tolstoy. Such beatiful writers. Some things do taste better when you prolong them (think War and Peace! ehehe).

Too much conciseness is in my opinion detrimental to the artistic and philosophical value of a book. Good writers write good stories and also supply good insights that require additional text (compared to the text that is necessary to strictly describe a plot or a character, for example). I like to give the freedom for a writer to release himself from the chains pf pure storytelling. Sometimes it is fantastically rewarding.

There is only one occasion where i think being concise is per se a advantage. and that is when you are writing nonfiction. All other cases, being concise is secondary to the talent.