>There are certainly writing teachers
>(I've encountered them) who cling resolutely and
often wrongly to "less is
>more" as an unwavering rule, but the problem is the
rigidity, not the
>philosophy itself. Ultimately, any real writer is
going to find his or her
>own voice
I've never tried teaching creative writing (though I spent
several decades teaching Twain and Hemingway and discussing
student essays and dissertations), but I'd like to make a
defense of this as a first approach.
What is most commonly most wrong with inexperienced writers
is that they haven't yet learned to say precisely what they
mean. Being aware of this, they go round and round hoping to
hit on the point in the end. To tell _them_ to cut the
wordage is a part of the process of tightening up meaning.
"own voice" - absolutely. But en route, conscious brevity is
certainly a valuable step, as much in the thinking process as
anything else.
Marianne (thinking of cutting down this mail - but ah hell
that's email for you)
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