Vagueness is the enemy
Advice from author George Saunders.
Author George Saunders:
A bad story is one where you know what the story is and you’re sure of it. And you go there with your intentionality fixed in place.
It’s good advice for standup too. You want to surprise ‘em after all. And the best way to do that is to be open to surprising yourself.
And here’s Saunders on writing sentences with specificity, detail, and truth.
As for the craft: I think it’s about sentences. You write: “Hal, as usual, was talking a lot of right-wing bullshit that made no sense.” Okay, fair enough. But now, in revision, you feel that the sentence lacks specificity. Forget about politics, truth, fairness, all that — it’s dull because it’s vague. The question is: What does he say, exactly? And what does his face look like as he says it? And who is he saying it to? And what do they think? And what is Hal thinking as they look at him? Does he feel he’s being judged? Is his stutter getting worse, filling him with rage? Is the father of the Swiss girl there, looking appalled at Hal’s stutter? Is the Swiss girl playing nervously with her braid, suddenly ashamed of Hal? So you have to cross out “talking a lot of right-wing bullshit” and give Hal something to say, in a specific voice. And now suddenly you’re really paying attention to Hal, which means you’re being compassionate. You’re actually curious about what Hal is all about, instead of pre-knowing what he’s about.
What I’m saying is, all moral concerns in fiction reduce to technical concerns. And technical concerns drive us towards specificity and detail and truth.
Source: George Saunders Explains How to Tell a Good Story from .
More from Saunders at Funny How:
