Thought for the week 1

I've had a bit of a heated debate with someone recently about the benefits of deliberate succinctness over fullness and frankness (to paraphrase [arf]). On my side I brought in Mark Haddon (author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time, ostensibly a murder mystery written by a boy with Asberger's Syndrome), who said in last week's Observer:

"The best question I ever received came from a boy who asked whether I did much crossing out. I explained that most of my work consisted of crossing out and that crossing out was the secret of all good writing."

I totally agree.

There can be such beauty in brevity -- but it is so hard to do well. Brevity can be exclusive, it can demand that you understand its context, but ooh, it can take your breath away. Ten words can speak thousands.

Here are some of my favourite examples:

1. Why am I sat here with Fatty and Spotty?
(Fran from Black Books when she goes to work in an office)
2. Does anyone want my long black leather coat?
(Jeremy's review of The Matrix Reloaded)
3. Stand where the fuck you like, as long as it's nowhere near me
(Melody Maker's review of Lenny Kravitz's Stand By My Woman)
4. Maggie Thatcher Ate My Future
(A tax paying 60s child wondering what happened to Cradle to Grave)
5. Everybody's making love or else expecting rain
(Bob Dylan: Desolation Row)

joella