Writers! Befriend Narrative Density!

Are your scenes too thin, or lusciously full to bursting?

Photo by Aimee Liu

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Hi Everyone,

As I shift back into writing gear, I’m returning to the promise I made to you two weeks ago:

Every Wednesday for paid subscribers, I’m going to offer a master’s Craft Quote that I think captures an essential bit of writing insight, plus a Creative Quote from another master that exemplifies the theme, as well as a resonating visual or two from my own Instagram archives.

Here, then, is your mid-week dose of craft advice and inspiration.

Write on!

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The enemy of fictional density

One of my craft bibles is The Fiction Editor, by Thomas McCormack, who died this summer at age 92. CEO and editorial director of St. Martin's Press for twenty-eight years, he was reputed to be a tough and somewhat curmudgeonly editor, and The Fiction Editor reflects that character combo. As Art Seidenbaum wrote in his review for The Los Angeles Times:

“In the course of skewering editors for sins of omission, McCormack also punctures college English teachers for missing the point in lit crit, lambastes publishers for not overseeing the editing process and pokes at novelists when they become book reviewers.”

In other words, this craft book is rare gold, and not just for fiction writers but also for memoirists and all narrative nonfiction writers.

First copyrighted in 1988, The Fiction Editor’s focus is almost entirely on revision, not composition, and about half this quirky little text consists of fairly obscure “Notes” directed more to editors than to writers. Nevertheless, my copy is streaked with highlighting and studded with Post-its to remind me where nuggets of invaluable treasure lie.