This week, the words are written by Lois Payne. I’m doing the drawings and choosing the music.
Lois, thank you so much for writing so beautifully for us this week!
If you haven’t yet, be sure read one of her very short stories by going here and scrolling about halfway down the page. —Jeff
I could try to conjure up some more life advice, but I’m only 23. There’s every chance you are wiser and more experienced at this life stuff than I am. So, I offer these writing tips that I’ve picked up over the years instead. I hope they are of use, even if writing isn’t your thing.
Say less.
Creds to Stephen King for this one. If you can axe words without losing the overall meaning, you should. Even if it means having to ‘kill your darlings’. Good editing is almost always a process of subtraction, not addition.
Slow down the important stuff.
If you’ve spent time building up to a crucial part of the story, don’t waste your reader’s attention by bulldozing through it. Pause, zoom out, consider the scene with every sense. In times of heightened emotion, the world slows down; we notice more. Maggie O’Farrell, in this quote from This Must be the Place, captures this masterfully.
‘She felt the juddering power of the boat’s engine, she felt the thick tar-like surface of the bench beneath her skirt, painted and overpainted in repeating layers; she felt the featherweight of mascara on her eyelashes, the straps of her slip… she heard him sigh, heard the slide of fabric as he crossed his legs.’
Use stronger verbs.
You could write that rain fell from the sky. But what does that tell me about how it’s falling? You could write it fell heavily from the sky, which is better, but the adverb adds a layer of distance. Tell me instead that rain haemorrhaged from the night sky. Now there’s an image, and more importantly, a feeling.
Ed isn’t sure if this is going to be an up day or a down day.
Róisín Murphy is amazing and has been for almost ever. I don’t think that’s changing any time soon. This is her latest single (Spotify).
Grow slowly
Jeff
✍️ TREE 551: Lois Payne will make your writing better
I am Ed, every day