Is longer better?

[mer_duff]

One of the books I've loved since I was a teenager for its cheekiness is Shrink Lits by Maurice Sagoff. "70 epic tales & heroic myths, dense theories & windy texts, oral traditions & really long novels - all reduced to 34 minutes reading."

In response to the thread that I couldn't help replying to over at hw_reqs (mostly because the longer=better correlation never ceases to annoy me), here is the prelude, based on The Elements of Style by Strunk and White.

"Omit needless words!"
Said Strunk to White.

"You're right,"
Said White,
"That's nice
Advice,
But Strunk,
You're drunk
With words --
Two-thirds
Of those
You chose
For that
Fiat
Would fill
The bill!

Would not
The thought
-- The core --
Be more
Succinct
If shrinked
(Or shrunk)?"

Said Strunk:
"Good grief!
I'm brief
(I thought)
P'raps not...
Dear me!
Let's see...
Okay!
Just say
'Write tight!'
No fat
in that!"

"Quite right!"
Said White,
"Er -- I mean 'Quite!'
Or, simply, 'Right!'"

Comments

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Heh! Those were wise guys, those Strunk and White. And Shrink Lits sounds really good!

[mer-duff.livejournal.com]

You might appreciate this one :D

Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic Wars

Omnia Gallia in tres partes divisa est...

Caesar cari dona militar orgi versus Belgae,
Helvetii, Germani, Venetii, Britanni - iunemit.
"Romis glorius," sed Caesar, "Nomen me impunit!"
Meni tridit - Vercingetorix, forin stans -
Caesar noctim sili fors ticinis nec aut.
Ab ludi, nervi felo, Caius Julius, iubet.

(edited because there is a difference between bold and italics!)

[taiga13.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of that book, that sounds like fun!

[mer-duff.livejournal.com]

It's great - Moby Dick in four couplets (plus call and response :D). One of my mother's students gave it to her one year and I co-opted it... Sadly it appears to be out of print.

[zulu]

I like longer stories, but only if they move. Stories that are long for the sake of being long aren't necessarily satisfying; but stories that are long because they are complex and detailed and show change over time--those I love.

[mer-duff.livejournal.com]

That was the struggle I had with Big Bang this year! "Tribulation" was my first attempt and I got 14,000 words into it before I realized that I didn't really need the angsty middle scene. The story I finally wrote would probably be just as good, if not better, as a 5,000 word one-shot, but I'd gotten to the point where I would rather finish a mediocre story than fail the challenge :)

I love reading long stories - I also love reading plot-driven stories, but I don't think that necessarily equates to quality. I freely admit that I couldn't put Angels and Demons down (even as I howled in outrage at parts of it), but in terms of good writing, I'll take an Alice Munro short story over Dan Brown any day!

[zulu]

That's a real skill, to know the right length for a story. Me, I'm always underestimating, and then finding I'm writing twice as much as I'd figured.

I like the big bang to encourage longer fiction, uneven quality or not, because House fandom-qua-fandom writes very short, in my experience. Buffy, SGA, due South--all of them had a much higher average length, both for one-shots and for novels.

[mer-duff.livejournal.com]

I never really thought about it, but there have been more long stories in fandoms I used to play in - though I probably didn't notice because my own story length hasn't changed much :D. Though there seemed to be a lot of epic House/OC stories over at the Fox forum.

I do enjoy stretching myself for the longer stories in Big Bang - this year I just struggled to find an idea that would justify the length. Because plot is secondary to character in most of the ideas I have, the 3-7K range just feels right. And since I don't seem to get as many of the "more" comments that other writers get, maybe I'm even over-estimating there!

[zulu]

Hee! I think calls of "more!" either mean that the story feels unfinished or unresolved, or else you write porn well enough that people wanna get off to it again. And I don't necessarily mean physical porn, although that too--but emotional porn of the hurt/comfort variety fits the patterns I've seen.