let’s use our imaginations

I’m currently reading this book that’s moving at an incredibly slow pace. It has way too many flourishing details and as much as I enjoy some of them, they’re taking away too much plot time. I’m sitting here, enjoying the actual storyline, wanting it to progress, and that’s the problem.

I used to write poetry. I actually spent an entire year taking poetry classes in college. I also used to write elaborate short stories. I’d embellish the details of a character’s features and the world around them. And then I remember getting my stories back and seeing the peer reviews petitioning for more depth and backstory– less materialistic fluff.

See, we don’t even like small talk in our literature. When we read, we like to be entertained and/or educated. We want to escape the nonsense of real life and discover something else. No one wants to waste their time reading about things that don’t matter to us.

What’s worse than talking to someone about the weather?
Reading about characters talking to one another about the weather.

Don’t get me wrong, some people take to heart the specifics of how delicately a brown speckled feather dances in the wind on a warm April morning. And there are circumstances that allow for this type of art. I’m just making a conscientious goal to have stronger purpose in my writing. I want to get my point across as clearly and effortlessly as possible. And if I’ve learned anything over the past year, it’s how important clear communication is when your only medium is a keyboard. (more on that in a future post)

That’s not to say, I’ll stop decorating words. I’m still capable of sappy journal entries and poetic lyrics.
But some of it needs to be left up to the reader’s imagination.

Reading is just as much a creation exercise as writing. When you read a story, your mind builds a world all on its own simply based on a handful of letters. 100 people can read the same book and 100 different versions of the story are created. That’s pretty neat.

But anyway, I am determined to finish reading this book. I’m halfway through it and I do like two of the main characters. Maybe 23-year-old Colleen would have enjoyed the slow, fluffy, pace of it more than 30-year-old Colleen though.

-CRCH

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Reading Rainbow Theme | Tina Fabrique