Once again, I have been thinking.
This is a dangerous thing for me and was sparked by a comment made on the latest instalment of Olivia Twist.
Now I have gotten my shameless plug out of my system, one of the commenters (is that the right term?)
Annette said and I quote:
... I wasn't sure if you could carry it off. I am impressed. And, you've done it with so many fewer words than Mr. Dickens did to begin with. :-)
I am a great admirer of Charles Dickens as you may be vaguely aware, and he never used one word where three words would do.
I am re reading Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, a classic in science fiction. Once again, I love his works but he too suffered at times with verbal diarrhoea. The original published work had 160,000 and this was a cut down version of the original 220,000 plus complete version, thought too big for publication. Having read both, I feel that the loss of words did not take too much away from the story.
When writing shortish fiction or short stories, I have to physically restrain myself from using two or three words where one will do.
Tolkien was another word smith who used a lot of words where it could have been just as effective if he cut say 10% of his output. However it is hard to discipline oneself and stick to the literary point.
How many people are put off reading great novels due to the sheer size of them?
I don't know, anyway, as an avid reader and one who always has my head in a book, I would like to read more new books in my lifetime and if they were say 10% shorter, that means I would be able to read 10% more books.
By the way, I read the Rise and Fall of The Third Reich and at 1245 pages,that was a bloody big one too! But to be fair it did have a lot of ground to cover.
Hugs
Sue Eye Strain Brown
Comments
Rx: Hemingway
I think the best remedy for this malady is some Hemingway taken daily, and the smaller the dose (ie. the short the story) the better. The side effect is a desire to say everything with no words at all (disappointment over that goal may have led to his death).
Hugs; Jan
Dickens prolix?
Never! His work is of its time, and may appear stilted in comparison to modern authors, but he doesn't scatter words around for the fun of it.
Tolkien, on the other hand, was a fairly dreadful writer, but blessed with an incredible imagination, and ability to meld themes from mythologies into a whole. Before I get biffed by JRR's fans, I have everything published under his name to date concerning Middle Earth - wonderful world, woeful prose.
Dickens - a product of his times?
Very true. Back then, authors were paid by the word. So, if you could say it in 3 words instead of one, you trippled your income. Sounds like an incentive to me. That said, I've read and enjoyed a number of his works... And, not just the ones I was required to read back in school. :-)
As to whether ALL of those words are necessary? That's an entirely different question. I don't doubt you could go through and mark out every 3rd word and still get the gist of what he was saying (and as pointed out, other authors similar could be said). Would it have the same impact? Sometimes or in some parts, it may well. But in toto. I just don't know. I actually beleive that SOME reduction in word count in many of Dicken's writings would not have adversly impacted the stories impact. However, SOME condensed versions go too far. You get the outline of the story, but loose all of the "flavor" or feeling and this is at least as important.
Annette
painting pictures
I've posted about this before I think, but bear with me... Dickens wrote for an audience who needed a lot of visual information, while today we have a century of cinema to refer to. When he describes a scene we've probably hundreds of images banked up, and itch to skip to the action :)
That said, some writers can create visual images that the screen can never hope to live up to. The opening of 'Heart of Darkness' springs to mind, the closest thing I've come across to a Turner painting in prose.
Me, I Am A Tolkien Fan
He wrote a wonderful series of books on the fabled land of Middle-Earth. Your stories are very good Sue and I have enjoyed reading them all. I understand about reading such large books that tend to tear up from just one reading. That is why I read them when the public library has them, that way I don't waste money on a paperback or hardback book unless i want it for my collection.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
Diarrhea
Dear 'Eye Strain' Brown,
I wasn't familiar with your spelling of the topic title, I looked it up and it is a valid spelling, sorry I doubted you! :) It must be the U.K. spelling.
It reminded me of a collection of excuses received by teachers.
Here is my favorite:
Please excuse Pedro from being absent yesterday. He had diahre dyrea direathe the shits.
Mr. Ram
Diarrhoea is…
…the original and correct spelling of this uncomfortable and debilitating ailment, Mr Ram. Have a look in the Oxford English Dictionary, the standard reference book for the language; It does mention that the owrd is spelled differently in the US. What do you call the language you speak? American? No English. Some of us in England find it really rather upsetting when our “colonial cousins†try to teach us about OUR English language. I think the version you use ought to be called American; after all there are many differences, not only in spelling but also in syntax. It's Bernard Shaw all over again—two nations divided by a common language. I don't know if it is still the case, but The New Yorker magazine always used to use British spelling.
Diarrhoea is one of the words that is frequently used in spelling tests in British schools. Few pupils get it right.
BTW I'm not trying to upset y’all, I love you to bits really.
Hilary
Living Language
The only languages that don't change and evolve are dead languages, like Latin. In a living language, new words are added and spellings change, as does usage. Perhaps there will eventually be a language called "American". Somebody once pointed out that English is a result of Saxon invaders trying to make dates with the Briton barmaids. "American" would be the result of British "colonists" (invaders if you ask the Native Americans) trying to make dates with Indian maidens, Mexican senoritas, as well as other "colonists" from France, Holland, etc. And don't forget the culture of the Africans brought here as slaves.
KJT
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose"
Janis Joplin
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” - Turkish Proverb
Worchestershire Sauce...
Is a perfect example od changing language.
It was wor-ches-ter-shi-re long ago but now it it's wors-ti-sher.
In America its steak sauce, much more practical. Mind you this is comming from a guy living in a state full of French translations of native words which later were British-ized and Americanized. Wauwatosa is bad enough but Oconomowoc, Weyawega, Ashwabion, Wonowoc and so on.
John in Wauwatosa
P.S. To that bicycling writer in Wales, in the US exterior stucco is Portland Cement based. The problem is it collects dust and water and the steel mesh they bond it to the siding with can corode -- happened to my mom's parents house. The newer stuff uses a rust-proofed metal or a plastic mesh.
John in Wauwatosa
Worcestershire has only one H
Worcestershire has only one H, John, and the county town is Worcester, pronounced WOOSTER a bit like Bertie but with less OOOO; the county is pronounced WOOSTERSHER It's one of those strange and rather charming English things like Leicestershire which is pronounced LESTERSHER Think of the great jockey, Lester Piggot. How conhusing it would have been if he spelled it like the twon, Leicester! Isn't English English a delightfully quixotic language?
Greetings from Oxfordshire (OXFUDSHER),
Gabi
Gabi.
What I Am Thinking
Go to India or Singapore, lah! The English is different, but it's their language too, me pommy mates, and you spread it around like some dreadful disease, so it mutated and now you can no longer claim exclusivity in dictating how it is used. So There!
Ciao for now,
Joanne
Do you want to be a Fiction Writer or Technical Writer?
When I started the shift to fiction writing, profs were all over me like stink on manure. I am often told that women use many more words than men. It is kind of a choice ya know.
Gwen Brown
Sometimes more is more, and less is less...
I've read wordy verbose prose that blundered around like a drunk with a bucket on his head and his shoelaces tied together, words squandered, the message muddy. And I've read wordy prose that had real music to it, and pulled you in, and painted delightful scenes, and conveyed a galaxy of emotions, wonderfully nuanced.
I've read terse prose with the breathtaking simplicity of a Japanese sumi painting- gorgeous,
elegant, profound. And I've read Mickey Spillane's crap. It ain't the bike, it's the rider...
~~~Word! LAIKA
What borders on pure insanity?
Canada and Mexico.
.