Are you a Spartan writer?

quicklime · May 9, 2013

it was Twain, I believe, Buffy....

Jamesaritchie · May 9, 2013

Ixtila said:
I have a friend who wants to be a writer. She writes very purple prose and thinks it is immensely clever and well written. Conversely, when she reads anything of mine, she tells me it sounds ''young'' because I don't write like her. I've had people call my work YA because it is ''easy to read'', regardless of the subject matter. I've also been told I have a fairy-tale style, or I write like a story-teller, whatever that means. It is readable by everyone and the youngsters who read it love it, but much of the subtext goes over their heads. I can't get people to see that easy does not mean simple. Ah well, that's my lot I suppose.

But what do agents and editors say?

SkipDetour · May 9, 2013

Kallithrix said:
I'd really like to see how that conversation went:

'Yes, Mr Hemingway, your novel is a triumph, a truly gripping tale displaying masterful control of narrative, worthy of the highest literary honours. Now, about the style... I get what you're trying to do, but could you add a bit more... flamboyance? Would some florid similes kill ya?'

On the other hand . . .

"Yes, Mr Fitzgerald, your novel is a triumph, a truly gripping tale displaying masterful control of narrative, worthy of the highest literary honors. Now, about the style... I get what you're trying to do, but could you cut those long descriptive sentences down a bit. Would some short punching sentences kill ya?"

I don't got no right answer to this spartan question. Maybe there ain't one. it's sort of like asking that old saw, "When did you stop beating your wife?"

Bedrock_Fred · May 20, 2013

VoireyLinger said:
It's not the number of words you use. It's the impact of the words you choose.

Yes. That nailed it.

kkbe · May 22, 2013

Agree with that. I've been told I write cleanly and that my stuff is easy to read. Meaning, I think, that the reader got the gist of the story without too much effort.

Is that bad? Maybe I should make 'em work for it . . . No. As long as they read my stuff(and love it and tell me they love it, ad nauseam) I'm happy.

RaggedEdge · May 22, 2013

It's my opinion that The Hunger Games was fairly Spartan. I usually prefer more lyricism (sensuality, melodiousness) but I thought Collins's frugal style worked great in such an action-packed story. I am striving to be guardedly lyrical at times and lean and mean in the action sequences. Don't know yet if that's going to make fans or not.

Anna Spargo-Ryan · May 22, 2013

I think I'm a different kind of spartan writer.

My writing is spartan in the sense that I only write what is necessary to make the reader feel what I want them to feel. I imply a lot of things. I leave a lot of scenes hanging. I write in grabs and snippets.

My sentences aren't spartan, exactly. I'm no purple proser, and I don't like adjectives much, but I like words. I describe things, sometimes, and I bloody love a good metaphor or simile.

kkbe · May 22, 2013

Forgot to add this: I read that David Searcy novel Last Things. It was tough to read--the polar opposite of 'spartan.' anyhoo, Mr. kkbe had a go, finished it yesterday. He was royally pissed. He thought the writing was ridiculous, that if there was a story in there someplace, it was lost in the twisted convolutions of Searcy's meandering, Russian-nesting-egg sentences. In reference to Searcy's decidedly UNspartan writing, Mr. kk actually said:

"Since when does the art of storytelling become an act of subterfuge?"

That guy should be a writer, I think.

GraemeTollins · May 22, 2013

Count me in on the nouns and verbs way of doing it.

Though, ashamedly, I must confess, and with no small amount of trepidation, I do find myself, from cursed time to cursed time, lightly dipping a terrified toe into the murky, brown, slow moving eddies of torrents, much like the whirlpools of my mind, that rummage ....

No. Can't do it.

skink · May 23, 2013

I'm not sure I would use the word Spartan, but my writing has been called minimal and direct. It was described in one rejection letter as 'an engaging and easy to read voice.' I have yet to determine whether that is a compliment.

It has never hindered me, and I have been published.

I tend to follow Elmore Leonard's 10th Rule:

'Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them.'

randi.lee · May 23, 2013

VoireyLinger said:
My writing is sparse. It hasn't been an issue.

It's not the number of words you use. It's the impact of the words you choose.

This right here, a million times here!

Are you a Spartan writer?

quicklime

all out of fucks to give

Jamesaritchie

SkipDetour

Bedrock_Fred

kkbe

Huh.

RaggedEdge

I can do this

Anna Spargo-Ryan

Just pokin' about

kkbe

Huh.

GraemeTollins

skink

bien dans ma peau

randi.lee

Certified Non-Genius