Being Christian. Rowan Williams

New book by Rowan Williams.
Noted by Ben Myers on Twitter
Check out @cath_cov's Tweet: https://twitter.com/cath_cov/status/449118012743110656

Ruins are just the beginning

Check out @Image_Journal's Tweet: https://twitter.com/Image_Journal/status/444894763549229056

An unnecessary kindness

RIP Tony Benn

Check out @PCollinsTimes's Tweet: https://twitter.com/PCollinsTimes/status/444395319468785664

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.

Ends

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.

Ends