My 10 year old son and I came up with the name for this blog a couple of nights ago. While we were still chuckling over our clever and sophomoric play on words, we searched the internet validating that this wasn’t the name of someone else’s blog.
In our googling (that’s a real word, right? If not, it should be!), we came across a great blog post by Writer Unboxed http://writerunboxed.com/2007/12/31/tighty-writies/ that exemplified the thought behind the blog title.
I tend to be a tight writer. In fact, I might be too tight. My career background is in science and therefore my writing tends to be concise to the point of minimal. That’s perfect for a business case or an executive summary or a technical journal article but it lends itself to very short books! Some details are required when writing fiction. When I was a kid writing stories I knew this to be true. Time passed and “The Man” rewarded me for not including details. Don’t you hate when “The Man” keeps you down?! J
This blog is to help me find a balance. I know that writing needs to be tight; however it also needs to show. On this blog I want to work on the fact that tight writing isn’t telling. You can show and still write tightly. What’s critical when writing is to know when to use the descriptions or backstory. Knowing that it moves the story along and is meaningful is paramount. Don’t use 10 words when 5 will do. And with that last sentence, I recognize that it’s time for me to take my own advice. Tighty Writie to all!
