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Quick trick for writing like the greats


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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