FIRST ADD, THEN TAKE AWAY
Friday, March 19, 2021 – daily column #6701
In writing poetry, it’s rarely easy but always so necessary – to take away every word not essential to conveying the poet’s message, so readers digest a so little that means so much – reading slowly to absorb something simply, clearly, powerfully meaningful.
Prose writing, on the other hand, is like opening our brains to let every thought fall onto the page.
For first drafts, that can work, like papering our notes before a workshop talk when we fill flip-charts and sticky notes with more and more – indeed, every thought flows into our funnel, so nothing gets lost or forgotten. That, unfortunately, makes long pieces more like a haystack of word straw hiding vital needles.
Polishing, a pretty term, meaning ‘slash and destroy,’ cutting beautiful sentences if questionable worth – like actors’ performances hitting the cutting room floor …