Economy of style.

Richness of story. Economy of style. Part 2 of 2.
(For Part 1 see previous post.)

This is what I'm aiming at: I want to develop a rich story but I want to achieve economy of style. Richness and economy. It's the Holy Grail for writers. Richness in content but economy of means. What do other people think? Here is a quick bit of research (Part Two).

Economy of style

Item 1. Rutgers University is brief and to the point. (Jack Lynch)

• Using no more words than necessary

Item 2. Brigham Young University goes into more detail (BYU Writing Center)

• Eliminate wordiness
• Dump introductory words 
• Avoid prepositional phrases
• Cut vague nouns
• Do not repeat yourself (This is my besetting sin! Arrgh!)
• Don't keep saying the same thing in different ways (See what I mean.)
• Use one word where three will do
• Write in active voice

Item 3. Hemmingway's iceberg principle (Sparknotes)

• Only let the tip of the story show. Keep the rest below the waterline. 

Item 4. Stephen Wilbers in Writing for Business and Pleasure

• Avoid wordy phrases
• Omit modifiers
• Use action verbs

There you have it. Go and do likewise.

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Richness of story.

This is what I'm aiming at: I want to develop a rich story but I want to achieve economy of style. Richness and economy. It's the Holy Grail for writers. Richness in content but economy of means. What do other people think? Here is a quick bit of research (Part One).

Richness of story

Item 1. A theory:
Media Richness Theory; see Wikipedia

• aka Information Richness Theory
• seems to be as much about style as content:

Media richness theory states that the more ambiguous and uncertain a task is, the richer the format of media that suits it.

Item 2. Useful article: 
Cultivating Story Richness. Terrence Gargiuloon on Scribd.
[Note: Website fraught with pop ups and adverts. Difficult to read.] 

It’s easy to deprive ourselves the deep richness of stories [by] striving for the Holy Grail of clarity.

• Story is a cloud chamber revealing the tracks of meaning in a fog of words.
• Story lends itself to less structured forms with non-linear threads
• In story, information is packaged in memorable nuggets
• It is meant to trigger personal responses
• It expects people to generate their own meaning

Item 3. Blog post: 
A path to writing: Reaching into the richness of the world. Let's Write This

[Rendering] the invisible ink of the world legible.

Enough for now. Economy of style next time.

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Honest Doubt - Richard Holloway

This was the one. 

Richard Holloway’s series on BBC Radio 4 last year I found stimulating and thoughtful. Now you can buy the audio book.

Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle. 

Audiobook.

Available from AudioGO. 

• Audio book. Honest Doubt.
• Richard Holloway. Wikipedia.

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