Have you ever struggled to understand new software on your computer? I’ve just spent several frustrating days this way. The package I installed has six different programs and I’ve Googled and YouTubed away a great many hours trying to figure out how these fancy tools can help me get my job done. Eventually, I decided to try to concentrate on learning one program. This was more successful, and now my project is (more or less) complete. This strategy could also be applied to writing.
There are many literary techniques a writer can use to tell a story. But how many writers are ever going to excel at plot, dialogue, point of view, metaphor and everything else in the colorful literary toolbox? You’re better off trying to master one thing at a time.
Say you’re writing about estranged lovers meeting in a café. Concentrate just on the dialogue, or descriptive detail or metaphor–whatever. Choose one element and get it right. If your reader is drawn in by your gripping dialogue, she won’t notice if your description’s a bit thin. We notice specific instances of excellence more than we note broad adequacy. Let’s get away from writing a moment and consider gardening. Walking the dog one recent fall day, I passed a tidy yard with border plants neatly lining the front path. Nice, I thought. The lawn of the next house was littered with leaves and stray toys, but on the porch was an urn the size of a wine barrel, overflowing with scarlet geraniums. “Wow!” I told the dog.
To improve your writing, choose one thing to excel at. Which, come to think of it, is good advice for mastering life. And software.
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Good advice, Sharleen. And good gardening analogy. I agree that we notice specific instances of excellence more than we notice broad adequacy. Makes me feel hopeful when that idea is applied to writing.
Yes, it makes the “job” seem less daunting when you look at it this way, doesn’t it? Thanks for commenting.