I’ve just finished a book by a favourite author which had me gripped from the first page. However, two-thirds of the way through, I began to find I was in somewhat of a muddle with characters and had to keep looking back to remember which was which and how they were connected. Maybe it’s me, maybe I’m not as good a reader as I once was, but I don’t think that’s true – I’m also reading some sturdy non-fiction books, full of facts and information, and I’m enjoying them and not tempted to skip any explanation. There were areas of this novel, where to be honest, there was so much descriptive background details of location (not significant locations) that I had to focus and concentrate in case they were relevant. I came to the reluctant conclusion that, no they weren’t – and to be honest, some of that background added little to anything, and I hate to say, were somewhat (ssssshhhhh!) boring.
This made me reflect on my own writing, and I know from what kind and honest and dear friends have said, that sometimes the same could be said about my stories. I try and prune back my enthusiastic and irrelevant ramblings and pare down the excessive verbiage. I even ‘find and replace’ words I favour and use too often, as well as eliminating an excess of very/actually/really/just/only/ etc. As I found with the book I’ve just finished, the reader does have an imagination and doesn’t need a minutiae of detail, doesn’t need to follow every thought/word/movement of characters to understand what’s going on or to be gripped and engaged.
In complete contrast, I came across a Thread – as in a post on Threads, which I had to take a second look at. It was a photo of someone’s hand holding up a book called ‘Chasing Fog‘ by Laura Pashby, the cover of which showed some wintry trees and a foggy path leading between them. Behind the hand and the book was a track through some undergrowth which disappeared into fog, as you might expect. Growing up on the edges of east Anglia, fog and its lesser cousin, mist and its seaside cousins, haar, fret and brume, are very familiar to me. I read the blurb and bought the book which I started reading this morning.
You’ve probably guessed the point I’m making about writing – less is certainly – if not always much, much more. ‘Chasing Fog’ is all about fog, but is written by Laura with much elegance and clarity; I write mystery books so there should be some mystery, but the veils should be gradually lifted to reveal a clear resolution to the puzzle. This is another great lesson to me – and I will attack my latest Radwinter novel still beset by technical difficulties, and disperse any foggy muddles to allow the reader to follow the narrative.
Here is a link to ‘Chasing Fog’ by Laura Pashby:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0CP6PRFPD
https://www.threads.net/@circleofpines
In case you haven’t read my Radwinter novels:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Radwinter-LOIS-ELSDEN/dp/B08KTRNZ8Z
Lois Elsden 