Tag: writing

A writer will never go wrong if he focuses on his own themes, even if he leaves aside many others that could make his work more comprehensive. This comprehensiveness sometimes comes at the price of dispersion. And since the passages in which the writer expresses himself with all the intensity he is capable of are so striking, it is good for him to concentrate on them, to build around them whatever he has to build. Working in this way, even excesses will be diminished by the sincerity that will naturally abound in a work that consciously aimed at the essential.

The technique of the modern novel, which expands scenes, exposing them in greater detail and exploring the inner and outer minutiae of events, has its advantages. But sometimes one gets the impression that such detail weakens the plot. If we take as an example the ancient folk tales of some civilizations, we see that the narrative often varies, the details vary, and there may even be more or fewer scenes depending on the source; however, the logical sequence of the story does not vary, and therein lies its strength. The curious thing is this: these ancient tales, even if narrated schematically, devoid of literary devices, produce almost the same effect; a modern novel, on the other hand, if devoid of the particularities of the author’s style, becomes something quite different. Ancient narratives can easily be told orally, as they were and are, without much being lost, something impossible to do with modern novels. The modern novel can only be told by the author, and through the lines he has already written. Perhaps this means that the story never gains true autonomy, which may or may not be favorable.

Sometimes, even a notorious con artist, even a fifth-rate ideologue, liar and malicious, can produce very interesting pages when describing his personal experiences. Unless he falsifies them too, he will be able to experience in writing exactly what the great writer experiences. And he will be convincing. There is something special about this: writing offers everyone, without distinction, identical possibilities—and to make the most of them, one need only take the act of writing seriously.