The question of Heritage

http://arf.berkeley.edu/then-dig/

Poetry Day: Water

Crossing.

We cut through light
As we leave the harbour.
It dances beneath the keel,
The throb and pull of the engine,
The invisible sky.

We set course, choosing
To cross from loss to
Expectation,
From regret to hope.
Once outside, once we leave,

The boat broaches swell
And spray dashes above the prow, while,
Behind us, the lights recede and
Across the black water, there is
Now nothing but night.

[after 'Night tide' by David Hodges]

Economy of style.

Richness of story. Economy of style. Part 2 of 2.
(For Part 1 see previous post.)

This is what I'm aiming at: I want to develop a rich story but I want to achieve economy of style. Richness and economy. It's the Holy Grail for writers. Richness in content but economy of means. What do other people think? Here is a quick bit of research (Part Two).

Economy of style

Item 1. Rutgers University is brief and to the point. (Jack Lynch)

• Using no more words than necessary

Item 2. Brigham Young University goes into more detail (BYU Writing Center)

• Eliminate wordiness
• Dump introductory words 
• Avoid prepositional phrases
• Cut vague nouns
• Do not repeat yourself (This is my besetting sin! Arrgh!)
• Don't keep saying the same thing in different ways (See what I mean.)
• Use one word where three will do
• Write in active voice

Item 3. Hemmingway's iceberg principle (Sparknotes)

• Only let the tip of the story show. Keep the rest below the waterline. 

Item 4. Stephen Wilbers in Writing for Business and Pleasure

• Avoid wordy phrases
• Omit modifiers
• Use action verbs

There you have it. Go and do likewise.

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Richness of story.

This is what I'm aiming at: I want to develop a rich story but I want to achieve economy of style. Richness and economy. It's the Holy Grail for writers. Richness in content but economy of means. What do other people think? Here is a quick bit of research (Part One).

Richness of story

Item 1. A theory:
Media Richness Theory; see Wikipedia

• aka Information Richness Theory
• seems to be as much about style as content:

Media richness theory states that the more ambiguous and uncertain a task is, the richer the format of media that suits it.

Item 2. Useful article: 
Cultivating Story Richness. Terrence Gargiuloon on Scribd.
[Note: Website fraught with pop ups and adverts. Difficult to read.] 

It’s easy to deprive ourselves the deep richness of stories [by] striving for the Holy Grail of clarity.

• Story is a cloud chamber revealing the tracks of meaning in a fog of words.
• Story lends itself to less structured forms with non-linear threads
• In story, information is packaged in memorable nuggets
• It is meant to trigger personal responses
• It expects people to generate their own meaning

Item 3. Blog post: 
A path to writing: Reaching into the richness of the world. Let's Write This

[Rendering] the invisible ink of the world legible.

Enough for now. Economy of style next time.

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Honest Doubt - Richard Holloway

This was the one. 

Richard Holloway’s series on BBC Radio 4 last year I found stimulating and thoughtful. Now you can buy the audio book.

Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle. 

Audiobook.

Available from AudioGO. 

• Audio book. Honest Doubt.
• Richard Holloway. Wikipedia.

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Rewrite: Day 41. Plot and sub-Plot

I started off the day by creating a new Plot/sub-Plot grid for the novel to clarify how it all fits together. I started with a list of the main events in the plot line of the protagonist, writing it down out of my head without reference to any other notes or lists. Then I identified the other key characters (antagonists) and marked a + sign against each event in which they were involved. I ended up with seven lists of + signs. 

The next step was to fill in the missing events, that is, events that do not primarily involve the protagonist. I have to admit that at this stage I did refer to a previously compiled list of chapter headings just to make sure I was not missing anything and there were a few things that needed to be added in.

I am pleased with the result. It gives me a check list against which I can measure my progress in compiling and rewriting the chapters.

I have a busy week coming up and so this will be my last blog post for a few days but I will be back and continuing with the rewrite asap. Have a good week!

PS I listened to CD Review on BBC Radio 3 while I worked on the plot grid: a perfect Saturday morning.

Ends.

Rewrite: Day 40. Action. Intention. Reveal.

I went into town first thing to the Town Library, returned four books and borrowed three and last night, at the poetry reading, I bought two books so now I have five new books in the house vying for attention. The two poetry books are:

• Gillian Clarke. A Recipe for Water. Carcanet, 2009.   
• Guardian review.
• Carol Ann Duffy. The Bees. Picador, 2011. 
• Guardian review.

The library books are:

• Paul Waters. Cast not the day. Pan, 2009.  
• Amazon reviews.
• Joseph Wambaugh. Nocturne. Head of Zeus, 2012.  
• Guardian review.
• Rebecca Tope. Shadows in the Cotswolds. Allison & Busby, 2013.

And so to work.
I have been reworking the chapter list of the novel in the sense that I have been annotating it under the following categories: Action, Intention, Outcome and Reveal.

Action is fairly straightforward although it is frustrating how often I am still confused about what happens in a particular chapter.
Intention refers to the protagonist, Broderick Arnold and what he intends to get out of the situation.
It is surprising, or maybe not, how often the Outcome is other than the expected and contrary to the Protagonist's intention.
Under Reveal, I note what kind of revelation is given in the chapter. It may be obvious. It may be a surprise.

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