Today in Writers Craft, Cvetich said something that I always try to remember when I’m writing: “when you think something is done, erase the last line.” Writers love the reader to know exactly what is going on, when in actuality, the best writers let the reader come to their own conclusions.

This reminded me of a playwriting workshop I attended at the Sears Drama Festival. The man teaching the workshop was an eccentric person, dressed all in black and looking exactly as a playwright should look. He told a story of a play he wrote about a young soldier in the Vietnam war who killed a Vietnamese child and regrets it for the rest of his life.

The playwright, who I’m ashamed to say I forget the name of, laughed hysterically (exactly the kind of laugh an eccentric writer should have) and told us: “I wrote this beautiful big monologue showing him climbing up the hill and talking about his past and his fear of death, all that good stuff, ending with the line ‘he was just a kid… He was just a kid.’ But when I brought the script to the director the first thing he did was scrap that monologue. Apparently writers love to do that big buildup and huge exposition, but the audience is much more engaged when they can make their own conclusions.”

The writer’s huge monologue was cut down to one, heartbreaking line: “he was just a kid.” Now the audience is thinking and imagining and most importantly, they’re engaged, they’re going to keep watching.

Its true with other forms of writing as well: when you think it’s finished, erase the last line, or all useless background exposition that “writers love but nobody else does”. Less is always more.

Share this: Share

Twitter

Facebook



Like this: Like Loading... Related