Writers: Have The Guts To Cut
June 12, 2009 by Debra Marrs
Filed under Blog, Writing, Writing Tips
The best advice you’ll ever get comes from Kurt Vonnegut: “Have the guts to cut.”
Don’t be afraid to kill your lil darlings. I know it took you a long time to write that passage of prose. I know you think what you wrote belongs. And maybe it does. But maybe somewhere else.
A good writer writes clean and spare. Every word must do new work. There should be no clutter in your sentences, no extraneous details, nothing that is not essential to the topic at hand.
Clean, spare writing does not mean you avoid description. But it does mean cutting:
- repetition
- extra adverbs when one strong verb will do
- adjectives when a precise noun will “show” better
To keep your reader’s attention, avoid wordiness. Strip your sentences to their cleanest form.
Learn to write tight to write right!
