By Dean Unger.
Hemingway once wrote, in A Moveable Feast, that all he expected of himself on any given day, was one true and perfect sentence. This is, in my opinion, one of his finest books, and one of the finest examples of descriptive language there is in modern auto-biographical writing. The man made a habit of crafting amazing prose; deep, rich textures and visceral experience with very few words.
Two things: always remember that less is more, even in descriptive prose. Do you write as you think? Do you write as you speak, with your own unique vernacular? Are you striving to paint the perfect descriptive word picture to allow your reader to form a tactile, moving imagery in their minds-eye?
Here are a few tips to help you trim away the excess wordage, and craft a finely-tuned sentence that will enable you to bring your readers along as your story unfolds. These general rules stand for fiction and creative non-fiction writing.
- Do not second-guess the first draft. Wait to edit and revise until your first draft is complete. Let your creative imagination flow and take you where it wants. There is wisdom in your subconscious that loves to come out and play. When you edit or overthink your initial draft, you shackle your creative imagination and stifle the flow of complex symbolism, abstract lineal thought, linked ideas and other important processes that the subconscious is in charge of.
- Prepare yourself mentally. When you are complete your first draft and are ready to sink your teeth into the revising process, take a few moments to prepare yourself mentally. You will be using a different set of skills and varying intuitions now. If you come to a block, or find yourself overthinking it, stop writing and think it through until you have the perfect word, or group of words, to do the job. Let your subconscious do its part to link ideas and make connections.
- Ditch the freeloaders. Read through your work again and look for words that, if you removed them, would not affect the meaning of your sentence.
- Pick any sentence from your own work – one that instinct intimates you could craft better, and dance around it for a while, like Muhammad Ali danced around Cleveland Williams in the famous 1966 match. Take it apart bit by bit, and then put it back together until it says exactly what you intend it to say. When you’re done, the words should be a perfect representation of the picture, the image, or the information you wish to convey to your readers.
- Scrutinize sentences and sentence structure:
– Work on drawing the reader into the story: write for them, not at them. The goal is to make them forget they are reading; invite them into the story.
– Analyze your writing to determine the core idea within each sentence as you move through the story.
– Boil it down using words and terms that are vivid and evoke imagery and idea. Skill with words is more about efficiency and style, than it is about verbiage, loquaciousness, and palaverous abuse.
– Define your style. Revise for style.
What does revising for style mean? Writing is a very intuitive process. Sometimes writing in flow is where its at, but, for the purpose of pushing your growing edge, learn how you relate to language and ask yourself: What is my style? How do I relate to language? How do I use language and words? Which words do I choose when I speak? What sets my vernacular apart from others and makes it unique?
- For the purpose of flushing out your muse, write as though every sentence has the potential to be the heart and soul of your story. Invite the reader to step out of the two-dimensional world of the printed page and into the world of imagery and ideas you have created. Allow them to see, feel, touch, smell etc… Bring their senses alive.