When Tim Ferriss interviewed Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist…
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He asked him a good, clear question:
“What are the most common mistakes or weaknesses of first-time novelists?”
I think Coelho’s answer is excellent advice for all writers, including, sometimes, copywriters:
“Keep it simple,” he said. “Trust your reader. He or she has a lot of imagination. Don’t try to describe things. Give a hint and they will fulfill this hint with their own imagination.”
He’s describing Literary Minimalism, writing which:
Favors brevity
Avoids adverbs
Leans on surface description
Let’s context dictate meaning
Hills Like White Elephants, Hemingway’s famous short story, comes to mind. It’s full of sentences like this one:
— -
“The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building.”
— -
Hemingway doesn’t give us the details, only the elements: the American; the girl; the table; the shade; the building.
And he trusts The Reader to fill in the blanks, to color in the details — consciously or otherwise — for herself.
Don’t over explain.
It starves the imagination.
Instead, it’s often more engaging to provide the elements of a scene, and let The Reader fill in the rest.
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Hey there, thanks for reading. :)If you want more “micro” content, feel free to explore 100s of articles, interviews, courses, and series — all free. Enjoy!Eddie Shleyner
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