Last
night we had another interesting evening at Della’s class. She never fails to
make us think deeply about the way we write. The reading that caught my
imagination more than any other was the first half of a 2000 words short story.
I loved it, but it was—as Della rightly pointed out—too wordy for a short
story. That was when I realised I had been listening to it as if it were the
opening chapter of a novel. In other words, I was listening to it with a
misconception in mind.
Later, I
got to thinking about it again. Would I have enjoyed that reading as much if it
were stripped of some of its brilliant prose? I suspect not. To me, it would
have sounded clipped and less polished: which says more about me than it says
about the writer.
I must
bear that in mind in future when I offer comments about short stories.
No comments:
Post a Comment