Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
Moejoe, feedback time. I have been writing in a particular style, a short choppy style, rather like somebody reading a detective's notes. Because of what I'm trying to do, lots of tradition scene and backdrop information is left out (or included in the Concordance). Is the result readable enough, or should I expand the backdrop information. Constructive feedback is appreciated.
I nickname the style as micro-novels.
As to the MR anthology, I have nothing against being in it...but, frankly, Poe does nothing for me. Never has. If there is something I can fit in, I'll join up.
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For me, and this is only my opinion (which I have many of), as soon as you become concerned about any element of your writing to a point where you give it more than moments thought -
am I including enough character, is there enough information about X, Y or Z - you're steering dangerously close to boring writing. Those questions can't be answered, except in some dull how-to book that would have you strip the life out of your fiction altogether for the sake of some mythical average reader or the towering God that is 'THE MARKET' (and you shouldn't do that, because you write some damn fine fiction). Sometimes what you leave out is what makes your writing unique. What you might never have thought of is exactly what makes your writing, well, your writing. If the background information isn't there and you don't feel its wrong, don't worry about it. There's nothing more boring in a work of fiction than a paragraph written out of necessity rather than excitement or feeling. Here, I believe, is the only question you need ask of your writing:
Did I enjoy writing?
If you did, it's a winner, if not, then write something that does excite you. So that's the question I ask you, in answer to your own question.
Is this short choppy style something you enjoy? Do you feel wrong when you leave out details, or does it make just as much sense to you without?
In the end you have to care enough to enjoy your writing and not care at all about what anybody thinks. Here's a paragraph I wrote the other night:
This is where all dreamers found themselves. Three am, alone in apartments staring at empty white pages wishing they knew what was wrong and knowing it would never be right. Desperate insomniacs searching for the right words to lullaby themselves into sleep, only to sleep with one eye open, pad and pencil nearby in the hopes that somehow dreams quickly woken from might be captured and trapped in their entirety. Dreams that would open doors to easier days and sleepful nights to follow.
I enjoyed writing that paragraph, and I don't care if I'm the only one who ever enjoys it.
DISCLAIMER: I'm about the worst person in the world to ask for a critique as I'm firmly in the camp of
the reader not the read.