There doesn't seem to be enough on this writing style, and it's a source of frustration for me. I love reading minimalist writing and I love writing minimalistically, the problem is while it seems easy enough, it isn't. I never know what's too little or too much, so much so that when I try to write, even though it sounds natural to me, I'll go back and inject all my sentences with unecessary metaphors and similes, with far too many adjectives and run on sentences, until my prose is bloated and not very minimal at all.
I figure with so many of us here who read authors who, and who themselves, write in this style, it'd be a good place to ask: What's your take on writing minimalistically? Are there any rules you set for yourself when writing in this style, or does it all just come naturally?
I've been reading Chuck Pahlaniuk, B.E.E., Amy Hempel, Raymond Carver, trying to absorb and understand this style. Help a brother out. I feel as though I need to get out of the "The more the better" mind set and into "Less is more."
I would advise you not to try.
Too minimalist?
I say, develop a style that you are comfortable in. If your story and your voice want a lot, write a lot. If you try to force yourself into writing another style, you may cripple and subvert a unique style of your very own.
You've heard of 'show don't tell', right? With minimalism, I prefer 'imply don't tell'. You don't have to drone, all monotone. I think it's more about not showing things. Since reading minimalistic prose, I'm much more familiar with reading between the lines. How much is hard without examples and can be different from voice to voice.
I've been reading Chuck Pahlaniuk, B.E.E., Amy Hempel, Raymond Carver, trying to absorb and understand this style. Help a brother out. I feel as though I need to get out of the "The more the better" mind set and into "Less is more."
All these writers employ minimalism to a degree, but what characteristics of minimalism can you define from their writing? 'Less is more' means being economical, every sentence has a natural and meaningful purpose for being there. It is expressing high concepts with little scenes or actions, by roping a reader's brain to not only posit questions but to answer them too, while other genres will either give you one or the other. So, if you can track down short stories from these authors (shorts will be easier to study,) read them and think of theme and economy, how do they express this in the work?
You could try an excercise on economy with words. Think of a large, high concept theme. Propose it as a question to yourself, then try to express this theme/question in 100 words of story. (Theme is that thing we know about but is always off-camera. So if your theme is love, don't say 'love'.)
I say, develop a style that you are comfortable in. If your story and your voice want a lot, write a lot. If you try to force yourself into writing another style, you may cripple and subvert a unique style of your very own.
Writing and religion seem to be the only places I find people arguing in favor of ignorance.
You could try an exercise on economy with words. Think of a large, high concept theme. Propose it as a question to yourself, then try to express this theme/question in 100 words of story.
I tried this out myself. It is 100 words, but it would be better at 150. Maybe you could spot out what the theme is.
Fuck Shark Week
Shark Week is the worst time of the year. They had this guy, picked up by a charter boat. The tourist who pulled him into the boat kept telling him you’re alright, but it looks like you’ve lost some weight. The man was shocked, “Excuse me, I think you’re standing on my guts.” I don’t go swimming anymore.
I hadn’t seen my grandmother in four years, ever since the diagnosis. She still had her house next to the sunset, where we’d collect sand dollars after dinner. I can’t believe she left it to me, I don’t even go swimming anymore.
minimalist writing is a big challenge, and takes a lot of practice to develop. I've read screenplays by some minimatlist writers which are worth checking out, just for the scene descriptions.
Backseat of a limousine. A lit cigarette. Short skirt, long legs. Crossed.
My blood boiled out my pores.
(I made that up because I couldn't find anything online)
@ Renfield - You ever tried writing micro-fiction pieces? Seems like something you would be into and would be good at.
IIRC you posted a link to Short, Fast, & Deadly in the flash fiction websites thread. Have you ever submitted there?
I suppose it's not entirely the same game as the minimalism you might find in a novel, but it overlaps. I find it very interesting.
@Renfield Wow, if you got that from what I wrote, I must have typoed some subtext. I did not tell him what to read, I advised him to develop his own writing style. I would never argue in favor of a writer's ignorance, but I am sometimes forced to notice it. Thank you, for giving me a chance to clear that up. Sometimes, I have a problem making a point in the massive thunderstorm of one-up-manship that is the net.
IIRC you posted a link to Short, Fast, & Deadly in the flash fiction websites thread. Have you ever submitted there?
I wrote some things last week with them in mind, but saw they were currently closed for submissions. There are a few micro-fiction blog things I've seen else where that look cool, but don't focus a lot of energy on the style.
@Renfield Wow, if you got that from what I wrote, I must have typoed some subtext.
Maybe ignorant wasn't the right term for the method you prescribed, but counterproductive. It may be a good way to start thinking about writing and style but seems less focused on improvement but on approval of your previous writing practices, perpetuating bad habits and sub-par writing. But maybe I didn't give enough weight to your use of "develop", if by which you mean learning everything you can about such writing techniques and theories and employing them to the best effect in your own fiction, which yeah, you should do. I think it was the "don't try" jibe that lead me away from this.
But yeah, I get what you're saying.
I wrote some things last week with them in mind, but saw they were currently closed for submissions. There are a few micro-fiction blog things I've seen else where that look cool, but don't focus a lot of energy on the style.
Ah, yes at the moment Joseph is changing the site up to run on a monthly rather than weekly basis next year. Probably why he's closed it off at the moment.
I think there is a lot of potential in the micro-fiction style. Okay so it gets into a grey area where it might actually end up being poetry, but some writers manage to cram some really clever ideas into these tiny little snippets. Certainly it's harder than it seems. I often try to write them when I'm at work, scribbling on post-it notes seems a better way to pass a boring couple of hours than doing sudoku.
I'm jelly of all of you.
Yeah, from that list I was a little confused about what exactly you think minimalism is. I went into it thinking "Hemmingway" and was a little confused by the list of writers you gave.
And flash (micro) fiction is not necessarily minimalist in my thinking, minimalism to me always has more to do with the amount of the descripton left to the reader's imagination, minimalism tries to evoke thoughts of bigger stories than are actually there by using the reader's experience.
Flash fiction works best in a more minimalist style, but even wth that it's just another type of story, you can write it any way you want. Sure you can go:
You can hear the rattle of the spray paint can as it rolls down the street, but nobody's listening. There is no rising to the boy's chest, nothing like breathing.
"Jesus, all his ribs must be broken," says one of the uniformed men, all of them dressed up in grey jumpsuits with monosyllabic nicknames stitched into the chest. They gather around the corpse like children mystified by the body of a jellyfish, fleshy and completely limp.
Behind them there is a miniature fire truck, complete with a high pressure hose for cleaning walls. For cleaning up the city.
The kid has what now looks like a comically huge afro, like even his hair was splattered across the sidewalk when his ribs were crushed. Beads of water slide down the strands of his hair slowly on their way to drip and pool on the sidewalk.
The glorified janitors know this is a heavy thing they've done, someone is asking around for a gun to plant on him before anybody calls the cops. "Or at least a knife, does anybody have a goddamn knife?"
The moon is reflected in the puddles on the sidewalk, and although they do their work under the cover of the early night, it is getting to be dangerously late for these janitors to be out. The wall next to their truck is covered with half erased gang signs.
But on the other hand while Do Unto Others is quite short, it doesn't have nearly the same sort of minimalist touches that one throws out. It's in the flash fiction thread I think, so I'm not going to put it back up here.
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It is absolutely possible to pick up tricks from other writers and incorporate them into your own style, but you have to know what you are looking for. Personally I do not find stylistically based labels that helpful in the literary world. I mean, to some extent and to some people they might be useful, but I find them to be oversimplifications that don't really have any practical use. Instead of aiming your rocket at the star of Minimalism you need to figure out what tricks it is that they do that you like so much.
How do these authors who you enjoy build sentences, paragraphs, how do they construct ideas without being overly wordy and still provide a satisfying experience. Once you reverse engineer those tools you will be better for it and the process of methodical reverse engineering is a very useful exercise in itself.
When I write a first draft, I always overwrite. It is easier for me to cut than to add after the fact. In editing and revising, I pretend that I have to pay a dollar for each word I write and seventeen dollars for each adverb. I am also fined $100 everytime I use the verb "to be" rather than an action verb. I am required to eat Brussels sprouts if I use "picket fence" advectives--literally or figuratively--such as, the tall muscular man leaned on the rickety white picket fence.
I still love the shortest poem ever written. It is called "Fleas," by Bennett Cerf.
FLEAS
Adam
Had 'em.
Yeah, from that list I was a little confused about what exactly you think minimalism is. I went into it thinking "Hemmingway" and was a little confused by the list of writers you gave.
Yeah I'd agree with Hemmingway. All those writers he noted I believe have talked before about their use of minimalism. Hell a couple of Palahniuk's craft essays are specifically detailing minimalist techniques.
And flash (micro) fiction is not necessarily minimalist in my thinking, minimalism to me always has more to do with the amount of the descripton left to the reader's imagination, minimalism tries to evoke thoughts of bigger stories than are actually there by using the reader's experience.
I think I brought up the micro story thing, but only as an exercise to easily assess and practice the basic traits of the style. I pretty much totally agree with your description.
Here's an interesting look at the editing process of Gordon Lish on Raymond Carver's story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love that may be helpful in conveying what Lish was trying to affect with an economy of words and tightening up the theme.
this thread confuses me. i would like to take part in the discussion, but i cant tell what the fuck its actually a discussion of...
I like the idea of that writing exercise, Renfield. I'll give it a try.
My writing used to be dense but it became the complete opposite over the years and its fairly minimalist. There are a ton of authors who write in a minimalist writing style. My favorite minimalist book my be Ann Beattie's Chilly Scenes of Winter. Its prose goes way beyond Carver's when it comes to its minimalism. I really like his stuff too, as most people who have read him do. I've never been able to get into Amy Hempel. Her work is definitely a lot different that Ann Beattie's book since everything seems to be hinted at while in Beattie's novel, everything is described in detail, but the writing is extremely stripped down to its bare essentials.
I'd like to see some other people's input on this subject because I feel like so many writer's on here lean towards the minimalist styles (like Nighty Nite, I put Hempel and Palahniuk in that category - but not so much BEE). I'm really getting into Hemingway right now (reading The Old Man and the Sea - which is what brought me back to this thread) and I feel like this just isn't discussed enough on here.
For me, when I am writing/drafting I feel like I am always approaching my stories with a minimalist mentality. And for me, a lot of times, it has to do with the structure of the sentences. Short and complete without the flowery shit. I love writing good descriptions, but I try to keep them short yet visual enough to give the effect I want.
I adjusted my hold, a finger wave, pinky to pointer.
I think this is a decent example of the idea I am trying to convey.
But like I said, I would really like to see some more people's input into this thread, since it isn't discussed very much on here.
Thoughts?
I love writing good descriptions, but I try to keep them short yet visual enough to give the effect I want.
I think that's a smart way to go about it.
I don't think I approach writing with minimalism in mind at all on the first draft when it's in regards to word economy. I write so compressed when it's coming straight from the brain anyway that I'm thinking I need to fill this in as clearly and as much as possible to get to the next thought. I'm always coming in short of goal word counts though, my revision is more filling in than taking out. Actively going for minimalism would probably be bad for my writing hygiene, when I'm supposed to be writing from the gut instead of head.
On revision is when I think word economy is most useful to people. Though I think some bad sides to it is people get stuck with the same sentence structure. I see a lot of repetition of that sort of sentence where info is buried at the back (maybe commonly an awkward submerging of the I?,) "My hand to my ear, I listened closely." When "I listened" is the important thing. I would probably steer more word by word, what makes the subject shine the best while being said clearly and succinctly and then seeing if it fits in the cadence of the surrounding sentences. Context probably has a lot to do with the employment of minimalism, too.
I could see what happens if I write a random sentence, straight from the gut, and then try to parse it down to essentials.
He scoops beans from the can with his fingers and shovels them into his gaping craw.
Craw is too much already. Weird that I went with gaping craw instead of dirty fingers, too. Either would imply that he's sloppy, or doing this action without his brain on.
He scoops beans from the can with his fingers and shovels them into his mouth.
Using his fingers doesn't really add much to this (maybe in some context it would,) we got from the can anyway.
He scoops beans from the can and shovels them into his mouth.
I think that's as close as I would want it, I like shovels, I like from the can. To add a little flavor I could drop the and and go a little splicey with it to give a good one-two effect of motion.
He scoops beans from the can, shovels them into his mouth.
That's okay with me. Has a little character, is still clear and concise.
That is pretty fun, seeing how to strip down my prose. Slaving over every sentence like that would be a nightmare though. Maybe getting a basic idea of that technique to work naturally at the back of my brain would be ideal.
My favorite minimalist story right now is Barry Hannah's "Water Liars" from Airships.
What's your take on writing minimalistically? Are there any rules you set for yourself when writing in this style, or does it all just come naturally?
Some of my favorite minimalist books are non-fiction, and they're among my favorite history books, too: Studs Turkel's Working, The Good War, and Race. Oral histories - the spoken word. These folks are not just chatting but they're trying to recall, to describe important details, and to convey complex emotions.
I recall somewhere that Palahniuk said his style was in the manner that people speak. I've found that I try to make the minimalist stories read as if they were spoken. It's been said that the American journalistic vocabulary is something like 800 words (not including the proper nouns for people, places, things). So, I guess when I write minimalistically my muse is telling me the story like a weary reporter and the sentences come like telegram dispatches...
Ah well. That's me. Last week I picked up an Elmore Leonard novel and transcribed two pages of his writing to force myself to write my own story more like Leonard writes...
