I mean unless you're writing an operator's manual for a forklift or something, *nothing* you're writing is actually "necessary"https://twitter.com/BlasianBytch/status/1328248183168901120?s=20 …
-
Show this thread
-
Lol the "efficiency" discourse from writing classes has really done a number on people's psyches hasn't it It is necessary for me to enjoy writing the thing and people to enjoy reading it If you take away something that people enjoy, you have removed something necessary
3 replies 6 retweets 70 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @arthur_affect
I write nothing but "necessary" things these days (technical writer) and it's I think it's better suited for me than a creative writer. A diversion in tech writing might obscure an important fact, whereas the "unnecessary" parts of a book are often my favourites.
1 reply 0 retweets 9 likes -
Replying to @BetaDecayPlus @arthur_affect
Any Discworld story could be told without the little asides on things like The Muntab Question or spending a few pages inventing magic quantum mechanics but those parts are great and I love Pondrer Stibbons.
2 replies 0 retweets 15 likes -
Replying to @BetaDecayPlus
The thing about the wildly oversimplified advice about efficiency is is that people don't really consider that everything you put in a book *does something* It's an open question if it does it well, or if there's another way to do it better, sure, but it all does something
1 reply 4 retweets 28 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @BetaDecayPlus
We all know that there's no such thing as "small talk" really The difference between a close friend and a passing acquaintance is the small talk There may be a handful of important, intimate conversations but those could only happen as a result of hours and hours of small talk
2 replies 3 retweets 28 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @BetaDecayPlus
Everything a writer writes is a little bit of characterization, a little bit of info about what kind of person you're talking to and what kind of world they're drawing you into The overall effect of a book is ultimately shaped by every page you sat through
2 replies 1 retweet 22 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect
I wonder what they'd think of The Princess Bride then. There's a book that by the Kill Your Darlings standards is indulgent as all hell. It has long passages where the story switches perspective just to talk about some section of the book the authour isn't including.
1 reply 0 retweets 6 likes -
Replying to @BetaDecayPlus @arthur_affect
It's a book whose main charm is a series of strictly unnecessary comments on stuff that is explicitly said by the writer to be unimportant.
1 reply 0 retweets 6 likes -
Replying to @BetaDecayPlus
The Princess Bride the novel is, of course, lying about this The *primary story* of The Princess Bride is the story of the fictional William Goldman, seedy washed-up Hollywood screenwriter desperately searching for meaning and hope in a dusty old book he's wildly misinterpreting
1 reply 2 retweets 14 likes
The *secondary story* of The Princess Bride is the actual narrative about Buttercup and Westley One the actual primary narrator, "Goldman", tells you only actually exists in his mind, in his distorted recollection of his father's retelling of Morgenstern's novel
-
-
Replying to @arthur_affect @BetaDecayPlus
That story, by itself, is a pretty good story, and the movie, by just telling the story and demoting the "real-life" scenes to mere "framing device", is a very good movie But it really isn't the same as the book at all, and if you didn't read the book you missed half the point
0 replies 1 retweet 11 likesThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.