Authors Answer 125 – Is Short Better?

And of course what exactly counts as “long” or “short” isn’t completely agreed on.

I Read Encyclopedias for Fun

You know the advice where authors are told they should be as brief as possible? Cut out any unnecessary words. Keep it simple. Everything short. Easy. Yes? No? How did this paragraph sound? We talk about this very topic.

Question 125 – Use short words, sentences, and paragraphs. Do you agree or disagree, and why?

Elizabeth Rhodes

Exclusively? No. You need variation in your sentence length, or your writing will sound monotonous.

Paul B. Spence

Only if you are writing for children. I assume my audience to be thinking adults with at least average IQ, probably even educated. If they can’t handle a word like existential or thermodynamic, they aren’t going to understand my stories anyway.

H. Anthe Davis

If this was a law, I would be in jail for life.  I have to consciously control the amount of dashes in my work — lest I end up with six…

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Authors Answer 23 – Point of View

This is one way in which I’m traditional.

I Read Encyclopedias for Fun

I’m eating bacon.

You’re eating bacon.

He’s eating bacon.

I ate bacon.

You ate bacon.

He ate bacon.

Point of view is a choice every author must make before writing a story.  Which is best for the story? Which is best for the author?  Some authors feel more comfortable using one point of view over the others.  First, second, and third person point of view exist in books, though second person is not common.  Present and past tense are both common, though past is more traditional.  And then there’s the level of omniscience.  We have objective, with no knowledge of a character’s thoughts. We have subjective, with knowledge of one person’s thoughts in each scene, and can switch characters.  This is also like limited omniscient.  And then there’s omniscient where you know everyone’s thoughts at all times.

Question 23: What is your favourite point of view and tense to write…

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