The Art of Less

When we went into lockdown, our oldest daughter Zoe was staying with us, which means she is stranded until we are in Level 2. That's very good news, we love having her here. In particular someone white and black and hairy is very happy, because it is Zoe who took him on as a rescue pup. 

It also means that half of our bubble consist of university students. This gives great conversation over the dinner table, because they spend a lot of time on Zoom and with that, a lot of bloopers happen. Mostly when people are still lying in bed during their meeting and turn their camera accidentally on, or they forget to mute themselves while they are saying "My God, this is SO boring". If you have ever zoomed, then you know that the one who makes the noise comes into the centre of your screen, which is very funny, unless it is you who forgot to mute and made a rude comment.

Apart from zooming, university students do a lot of essay writing. You know what all of them find the hardest? The fact that you have a maximum word count. All three of them, they write an essay, are quite happy with it and then they look at the word count (which, if you write on a laptop, the computer counts for you) and without exception, they go AAAAAARRRRGGGHHHHHHH because they find themselves easily 1000-1500 words over the maximum. And all of the three say: 'I REALLY can't cut anything out!'.

They help each other by proofreading each other's work. An although their subjects are totally different and they can't comment on the content, they point out to each other: "You repeated yourself here, this sentence could be cut in half, this part doesn't seem very relevant". Again without exception, they manage to get their essays under the word limit and not only that, they say, "Hey, this is so much clearer, you've really streamlined it for me."

I am listening to these conversations and go 'YAY!!!!' That's exactly the kind of workshopping I hope Class 5 is doing in their bubbles. Not because I am setting a word count for you, but because good writing is often, The Art of Less.

Hamish S, I see you grinning from ear to ear. Hold on, there is more to the art of less, you need to do lots before you can do less.

Song writers are experts in this. They get about 3 minutes to tell you a whole story. Every word has to paint exactly the image that paints the best picture in the readers/ listeners mind. Do you know Bruce Springsteen? His song "Born to Run" became super famous. It took him six months to write 344 words.

Springsteen's texts look super simple, but he is a real master. His simple images create whole worlds and he takes you straight into his stories. This is the result of the draft above- Bonneville Boys, you are going to love this!

Bruce Springsteen has fat notebooks in which he writes his songs. One album takes up one these fat notebooks.  'A whole notebook?' I hear you think, "for about 10 or 12 songs?' Indeed. Because words need to stew, need to develop. They need to be rearranged until they are right. The end result is maybe only 344 words, but it took around 2000 words to get there.

This video shows you his notebooks (and it's a pretty cool song anyway to listen to)

So there you go Class 5, be brave and share your book with your bubble. Look at what Neil Gaiman had to say about feedback people give you. Act on it and change your writing. Read it out loud to yourself, does the rhythm work? Are you using enough direct speech to make it lively? Are you using too much direct speech so the reader loses track of what the story is about? Do you repeat yourself? Do you overexplain, could you use an image instead of long explanations?

Remember you can always send your work to me and I love to be your editor. And I have a helper around the house, see below.

Bonus Feature

The Diary of Merlin The Dog in the Tough Times of the Leash.

I am getting used to this thing called lockdown. First I was a bit annoyed because I never have the house to myself anymore and I don't get to run on the beach, but the benefits outweigh the negatives. The Humans are much keener on walks than normally, so on some days I get six walks. Even on the leash, I can't complain there. There are lots of lovely sniffs around the streets which you don't get on the beach.

Apart from the lotsa walk I get, the other best benefit is the FOOD. I ADORE food. I have developed a very detailed ear for what kind of food is being used in the kitchen and I can identify the different sounds the bags or jars make. The sound of cheese gets me quickly out of my deepest sleep, I ignore all jam jar sounds, bag of bread sound means I might get some marmite on toast which is really delish. But when the tap of the jar of PEANUTBUTTER meets the bench, I am GAME! I am UP! I am READY! I do the puppy eyes look and mostly, they can't resist me. Oh I LOVE peanutbutterrrrr!!!! I 

But you know me: I do more than just eating. I am here to be a helpful and responsible dog. My humans spend a considerable time on what they call 'study'. I can do that. Easy. I wonder if I get a degree at the end of this too.