editing
Jane Ratcliffe • Craft Advice from George Saunders
George Saunders on the revision process: “The way I revise is: I read my own text and imagine a little meter in my head, with “P” on one side (“Positive”) and “N” on the other (“Negative”)... This involves making thousands of what I’ve come to think of as “micro-decisions.” These are instantaneous, intuitive – I just prefer this to that... I just
... See moreAvoid vagueness in descriptors and exposition by using specific, concrete language. If the vision is vague to us, it will be vague to our readers. A storyteller may say that her protagonist “experienced an unpleasant feeling.”
Jared C. Wilson • The Storied Life
of being specific. It is vital to be concrete, to come up with memorable images.
Trish Hall • Writing to Persuade: How to Bring People Over to Your Side
Lee Martin
From George Saunders, on nuance and embracing complexity:
... See morethe writer doesn't have to have a fixed firm idea, but has to be able to take the reader on a journey to remind her that the world is complicated. From the very beginning, I understood writing to be about some kind of moral or ethical imperative. Absent that, I'm not that interested in it,