Shakespeare once wrote, “Brevity is the soul of wit.”

For those of us who don’t speak Shakespearean, what he meant was, “Good writing is brief.” The mark of a good writer is to express something clearly in as few words as possible. Too many words burden a piece of writing.

I didn’t really understand this until I began working on The Infinity Manuscript. Each part of the story, I decided, must not exceed two thousand words. This gave me only two thousand words in each part of the story to set the scene, introduce new characters, develop existing characters and progress the plot, and to do all these things in a way that didn’t feel rushed.

I’ve exceeded the two-thousand-word limit in the first draft of almost every part of the story so far, sometimes by as much as one or two hundred words. It was discouraging at first. However, when I went back and removed whatever dialogue and descriptions weren’t absolutely necessary, I realized the story was actually improved by these omissions. No longer slowed by unnecessary descriptions and wandering dialogue, the story moved along at a quicker pace.

When I began writing long ago, I believed more was better. Long descriptions gave readers a more vivid impression of each scene, and abundant dialogue helped establish characters more clearly, or so I thought.

The problem is that rambling dialogues and longwinded descriptions tend to be vague and pointless.

Anton Chekhov stated that if a gun is hung on the wall of a stage during a play, it should be fired by the end of the final act. In other words, the stage shouldn’t be cluttered with unnecessary props. Every prop should contribute something to the play.

In the same way, every element of a story should have a purpose. Every dialogue and description should develop the characters, explore the setting, move the plot or contribute to the story in some other way. If an element of the story has no purpose, it should probably be cut.

Smaller cuts can often be made as well. Adjectives and adverbs should be used sparingly. Descriptive words lose their impact if they’re used too often.

Take a wordy sentence: “Adam paused suddenly in the middle of a wordy paragraph to sip thoughtfully from a steaming cup of jasmine tea and gaze reflectively out the large window at the green trees swaying ponderously in the strong breeze.”

Awful, right? Let’s cut out those awkward descriptive words: “Adam paused in the middle of a paragraph to sip from a cup of tea and gaze out the window at the trees swaying in the breeze.” The shortened sentence conveys pretty much the same scene without all those cumbersome adverbs and adjectives.

I conclude with a story.

While dining with several other writers, Earnest Hemingway, an author whose brevity is legendary, bet them he could write a compelling story in only six words. They accepted his bet. Hemingway took out a pen and wrote the following words on a napkin.

“For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.”

He won the bet.

According to one of his biographies, Douglas Adams, the author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, was notoriously bad at meeting the deadlines set by his publishers. “I love deadlines,” he once said. “I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”

When he absolutely couldn’t put off submitting a manuscript any longer, he locked himself in a hotel room, played the same music over and over, drank gallons of coffee and worked feverishly on the manuscript until it was done. This unusual writing process probably explains why his novels are so bizarre. In addition to being somewhat unorthodox, his writing process must have been highly uncomfortable.

I can sympathize with Douglas Adams. I realized this morning that today is the deadline for a new post for TMTF and I had forgotten to compose one.

Many writers fall prey to procrastination. It’s easy to put off writing until past the deadline. If there’s no deadline, well, it’s easy to put off writing indefinitely. Writing requires a considerable investment of time and effort. It can be exhausting. Without definite goals or serious deadlines, many writers are quick to become distracted from their writing.

Writers sometimes make the opposite mistake, setting so many goals and expectations that writing becomes discouraging, fatiguing and stressful.

It can be difficult for writers to be self-disciplined without straying into one of two extremes: legalism or laziness.

What’s the solution? If you’re a writer, how can you be both productive and relaxed without becoming anxious or lazy?

That’s entirely up to you.

Writers are different. My idea of self-discipline is very different from Douglas Adams’s idea of self-discipline. His methods wouldn’t work for me, and mine probably wouldn’t have worked for him.

In the end, it’s up to each writer to find ways to maintain self-discipline.

Some writers set themselves a daily goal of writing a certain number of words or writing for a certain number of hours. Some writers work only when they’re in a creative mood. Some writers simply start writing and stop when they can’t write anymore.

It also helps writers to find ways to minimize distractions.

Some writers focus best while listening to music; others are distracted by music and prefer silence. Some writers enjoy working in crowded areas; for example, J.K. Rowling wrote much of the Harry Potter series in crowded cafés during the day. Other writers dislike company and opt to work in solitude; for example, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings alone in his study at night.

All writers are unique, and must find their own unique ways of remaining focused, relaxed, productive and self-disciplined.

I’ll keep striving for self-discipline, and maybe I’ll have the next post for TMTF ready by the deadline.

Maybe.

There’s a common idea that a good story is the description of a series of events. I disagree. I believe a good story is the depiction of the effect of a series of events upon the characters involved. We connect emotionally with characters, not plotlines.

The quest to destroy the Ring in The Lord of the Rings wouldn’t be nearly so thrilling if we weren’t rooting for Sam and Frodo. We wouldn’t care much about the strange events in A Christmas Carol if they didn’t work together to redeem old Scrooge. The Twilight novels would be even worse if some readers didn’t become emotionally invested in Bella and that sparkly excuse for a vampire.

What makes characters interesting, unique and memorable? What makes some characters likable and others detestable? How can a single author create dozens of characters that aren’t all the same?

Here are a few thoughts on good characterization.

Different characters should have different ways of speaking

Every major character should speak differently. A self-important character might speak in long, windy sentences packed with large words. A reserved character might use short, simple sentences. Officious, dignified characters tend to use fewer contractions than casual, easygoing characters.

Some characters have an accent that can be rendered phonetically through spelling. Topsy in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, for example, exclaims “Dunno, Missis—I spects cause I’s so wicked!” instead of the more prosaic “I don’t know, Miss—I suspect because I’m so wicked!” Some characters tend to use a particular phrase or set of words. For example, the eponymous protagonist of The Great Gatsby addresses almost every man he meets as old sport.

Although every character’s speech should be unique, be careful not to overdo it. Too many dialogue gimmicks are distracting to the reader. A character’s way of speaking must be natural as well as unique.

Excessive physical description should be avoided

Too much physical description is often a sign of poor writing. The reader doesn’t need to know every detail of a character’s appearance. It’s almost always best to give an impression of a character, noting the most striking features, instead of a meticulous description. Honestly, how often do we notice or remember a person’s appearance upon meeting her for the first time? We might notice her ironic smile or twitchy hands, but probably not her exact height and eye color.

In my experience, it’s best to give just few memorable details about a character’s appearance—giving the reader a general picture of the character—and move on with the story.

Different characters should have different mannerisms

Sherlock Holmes has a lot of memorable habits that define his character. He plays the violin. He smokes a pipe. He occasionally doses himself with cocaine or morphine. He has odd housekeeping habits, such as conducting chemical experiments and decorating walls with bullet holes.

His peculiar mannerisms all point to a particular kind of character: a gifted man with few opportunities to use his gifts. Since he considers most investigations beneath his ability, he compensates by using his gifts for miscellaneous pursuits (such as violin and chemistry) and distracting himself with drugs. His mannerisms aren’t random; they indicate a very specific type of character.

Mannerisms—whether an obsession with coffee, a fear of spiders or a habit of eating dessert first—make characters memorable and reveal a lot about them.

Characters should change

Well, most characters should change. Every now and then there will be someone like Aslan or Tom Sawyer whose character is built upon unchanging constancy. However, like real people, most characters are influenced by the events around them. If someone survives a gunfight or breaks up with a fiancée, I guarantee he will be changed by the incident. Fictional characters are no different.

Real people change and grow; so should fictional characters.

Clothes should reveal something about a character

There’s a reason Hamlet wears black. Jay Gatsby wouldn’t be quite the same without his elegant shirts. And can anyone imagine Gandalf without a tall, pointed hat?

Clothes don’t have to reveal something about a character—some characters, like real people, wear whatever clothes are handy—but something can often be learned about a character by the way she chooses to dress.

What have I missed? What’s your advice for good characterization? Let us know in the comments!

I love writing. Along with making tea, twirling broomsticks and obliterating all competition in Mario Kart, writing is pretty much my only significant skill.

There are innumerable bits and pieces of advice for writers. However, three all-important rules demand attention. Three golden rules. Not just golden rules, but platinum rules. Diamond-studded platinum rules.

I believe these platinum rules are the most important things for a writer to know.

Read

It’s impossible to become a good writer without reading. Impossible. How-to guides, classes and seminars can be useful, but nothing helps a writer as much as reading books.

Let me give an example.

One day I resolve to learn to play tennis. In order to master the sport, I spend hours listening to a professional tennis player give advice. That advice might be helpful, but I won’t be able to pick up a tennis racket immediately and win every match. It will take practice—a lot of practice—for me to learn to play well. Advice can take me only so far. At some point I must actually step onto the court and play.

It’s exactly the same with reading and writing.

Most of what I know about writing comes from reading. By reading fiction, I learned the mechanics of storytelling: plot development, characterization, settings, symbolism, style and the rest. By reading both fiction and nonfiction, I learned proper spelling and grammar.

Best of all, I learned these things intuitively. I didn’t try to learn anything—as I read, I simply developed a feel for writing.

However, a vague feel for writing isn’t enough. It must be refined. That’s where the second platinum rule comes in.

Write

Most people can’t sit down to a piano and play the third movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata without a lot of practice. In the same way, most people can’t sit down to a computer, typewriter or notebook and write a masterpiece without a lot of practice.

Don’t be discouraged if your writing isn’t perfect. I’ve never been completely satisfied with any of my own writing, and my early attempts at fiction were unspeakably horrible.

Reading and writing are essential for any writer, but there is one more platinum rule.

Have fun!

Writing should be fun! There’s satisfaction, joy and exhilaration in putting ideas, reflections and stories into a form that can be read and appreciated by other people.

If writing becomes a dull chore or heavy commitment, remember you’re under no pressure to write. Not everyone is gifted to be a writer.

When I was growing up, I desperately wanted to be a good artist. I sketched and took art classes and read how-to books, but nothing worked. To this day I have the artistic skill of a five-year-old—and that’s okay.

I’m not gifted to be an artist, but I am gifted to be a writer of fiction, brewer of tea, twirler of broomsticks and wicked good Mario Kart player. If you’re gifted to write, awesome. If you’re not gifted to write, learn what your gifts are.

If your gift is writing, read and write and have fun!