{"id":4563,"date":"2008-09-09T04:23:01","date_gmt":"2008-09-08T22:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indiauncut.com\/?p=2986"},"modified":"2008-09-09T04:23:01","modified_gmt":"2008-09-08T22:53:01","slug":"on-short-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indiauncut.com\/on-short-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"On Short Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arjun Swarup<\/a> writes in to point me to “Haiku Nation”,<\/a> a piece on short-format writing that he says made him think of me:<\/p>\n

\n

Short is in. Online Americans, fed up with e-mail overload and blogorrhea, are retreating into micro-writing. Six-word memoirs. Four-word film reviews. Twelve-word novels. Mini-lit is thriving.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It’s an interesting piece, but I couldn’t see why it made Arjun think of me. So I asked him. “Because one of your key points about good writing,” he replied, “one that you have frequently commented upon, is to keep it short, simple and concise.”<\/p>\n

I clarified: “My point isn’t that good writing is short, but that it is no longer than necessary.”<\/p>\n

Small formats have their value, but if a piece of writing is so short that it does not get to the meat of the matter, then it is too long. And while I love the six-word Hemingway story everybody cites (“For sale: baby shoes, never worn”), I’d rather read “The Old Man And The Sea” than 100 stories like that.<\/p>\n

But that’s just me.<\/p>\n

Also read<\/b>: an old essay of mine on short attention spans, “Beautiful Scatty Minds.”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arjun Swarup<\/a> writes in to point me to “Haiku Nation”,<\/a> a piece on short-format writing that he says made him think of me:<\/p>\n

\n

Short is in. Online Americans, fed up with e-mail overload and blogorrhea, are retreating into micro-writing. Six-word memoirs. Four-word film reviews. Twelve-word novels. Mini-lit is thriving.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It’s an interesting piece, but I couldn’t see why it made Arjun think of me. So I asked him. “Because one of your key points about good writing,” he replied, “one that you have frequently commented upon, is to keep it short, simple and concise.”<\/p>\n

I clarified: “My point isn’t that good writing is short, but that it is no longer than necessary.”<\/p>\n

Small formats have their value, but if a piece of writing is so short that it does not get to the meat of the matter, then it is too long. And while I love the six-word Hemingway story everybody cites (“For sale: baby shoes, never worn”), I’d rather read “The Old Man And The Sea” than 100 stories like that.<\/p>\n

But that’s just me.<\/p>\n

Also read<\/b>: an old essay of mine on short attention spans, “Beautiful Scatty Minds.”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,13,23],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nOn Short Writing - India Uncut<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/indiauncut.com\/on-short-writing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On Short Writing - India Uncut\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Arjun Swarup writes in to point me to “Haiku Nation”, a piece on short-format writing that he says made him think of me: Short is in. Online Americans, fed up with e-mail overload and blogorrhea, are retreating into micro-writing. Six-word memoirs. Four-word film reviews. Twelve-word novels. Mini-lit is thriving. It’s an interesting piece, but I couldn’t see why it made Arjun think of me. So I asked him. “Because one of your key points about good writing,” he replied, “one that you have frequently commented upon, is to keep it short, simple and concise.” I clarified: “My point isn’t that good writing is short, but that it is no longer than necessary.” Small formats have their value, but if a piece of writing is so short that it does not get to the meat of the matter, then it is too long. And while I love the six-word Hemingway story everybody cites (“For sale: baby shoes, never worn”), I’d rather read “The Old Man And The Sea” than 100 stories like that. But that’s just me. 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