Fewer ideas, but better

One simple rule to focus your story

Last year, a friend edited a short piece of writing for me. Here’s the feedback he shared – and what I think applies to almost all writing and story:

Some of this is specific to the piece. But, I think, this line hits home on what goes wrong in so many stories.

Fewer ideas, but better.

Maybe it’s the internet writer in me, but I often underdevelop ideas rather than overdevelop them. Sometimes, this means I need more words. Other times, this means I try to cram seven ideas into a story when focusing on one or two would be more impactful.

I go shallow on many, but deep on none.

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It’s not that ideas three through seven are bad, per se, but more so that they take valuable time and space away from the best ideas. Applied to story, the word ‘ideas’ could be replaced with many things.

Fewer plots, but better. Fewer characters, but better. Fewer themes, but better. Fewer scenes, but better.

My stories get in trouble when I try to do too much.

That leads to one of two things, neither of which you want to happen. One, the Reader gets confused when you bounce between too many ideas, too quickly. Or, two, the Reader gets bored and frustrated because you don’t go deep enough on your best ideas.

And, because I’m not George RR Martin, I can’t yet juggle a dozen competing ideas and come out of it with a 900 page story you don’t want to put down.

When in doubt, simplify the variables in your story. The trick then becomes what to simplify down to.

For me, when I feel like I’m starting to juggle too many things, I use a journal and divide it into categories. Plot points, Themes, Characters, etc, like those listed above. Then, very simply, I’ll write everything that falls into those categories within the section of the story I’m worried about.

Visually, it becomes easy to see what has become too crowded.

I like this exercise because it works on short or long stories. Heck, it’d even work on an essay like this that isn’t really a story at all. Ask yourself: Am I trying to get across too many ideas? You’ll know very quickly if the answer is yes. And, if you’re like me, you already knew the answer before you started the exercise, but you needed to see it to confirm it. Trust that instinct. “Kill your darlings,” as some might say.

When you scrap one part of your story, you’re giving the other, more important parts of your story space to breathe.

Think of it as a percentage. Now, those better ideas take up a higher percentage of the available pie. Then, when you start to dig deeper on them, their impact compounds even further.

What parts of your story pull you in? Which ones do you keep coming back to? And, conversely, which parts do you struggle to pay attention to? That may be the story’s way of communicating with you. Maybe it’s trying to tell you where to focus.

As my friend said – Fewer ideas, but better.

Have an awesome week.

Nathan

PS. Oddly, I found myself initially resistant to the feedback… despite it being awesome feedback. I think that’s because I don’t work with editors often. I write, and I ship. So it was a needed reminder. Great editors are worth their weight in gold.