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OneMoreRobot3021



Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 61,024
Loc: the sky
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I seem incapable of brevity.
#7947357 - 01/28/08 08:06 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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I notice a lot of the time I'll be e-mailing back and forth with people and they'll take two or three sentences to say what they need to say effectively. I can't tell if my responses grow into paragraphs because I'm unable to concisely deliver the information/thoughts/ideas I want to convey, or if it's because I just have that much to say. It seems like everything I say bleeds into some other idea, and all my writing is full of asides, extra information bookended by dashes, and parenthetical detours. Oh well. I'm not complaining, but sometimes I sit back and read Hemingway and wonder if I'll ever be able to edit my own writing down to such absolutely effective brevity.
-------------------- Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake. -Erik Davis
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MOTH
Wild Woman


Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 23,431
Loc: In the jungle
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You are from a different era then Hemingway. Every writer has their own style of writing.
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g00ru
lit pants tit licker



Registered: 08/09/07
Posts: 21,088
Loc: georgia, us
Last seen: 5 years, 1 month
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Re: I seem incapable of brevity. [Re: MOTH]
#7947404 - 01/28/08 08:13 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Hemingway said his best story ever was 6 words long:
"For sale: baby shoes, never used."
It's pretty amazing how much of a story those 6 words tell honestly, every word adds a new element.
-------------------- check out my music! drowse in prison and your waking will be but loss
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OneMoreRobot3021



Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 61,024
Loc: the sky
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Re: I seem incapable of brevity. [Re: g00ru]
#7947411 - 01/28/08 08:14 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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"Hills Like White Elephants" is an exercise is stellar writing. He tells the entire story without ever telling any of it. For anyone who wants to read amazing short stories, I can't recommend Hemingway's collected shorts enough. "Big Two-Hearted River" Parts I & II are fantastic.
-------------------- Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake. -Erik Davis
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g00ru
lit pants tit licker



Registered: 08/09/07
Posts: 21,088
Loc: georgia, us
Last seen: 5 years, 1 month
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Quote:
OneLessForeskin said: "Hills Like White Elephants" is an exercise is stellar writing. He tells the entire story without ever telling any of it. For anyone who wants to read amazing short stories, I can't recommend Hemingway's collected shorts enough. "Big Two-Hearted River" Parts I & II are fantastic.
I did a research paper partly on "Hills Like White Elephants."
Unbelievable story. It makes me sad to read it because I know it was written by a man whose genius I will never rival.
-------------------- check out my music! drowse in prison and your waking will be but loss
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OneMoreRobot3021



Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 61,024
Loc: the sky
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Re: I seem incapable of brevity. [Re: g00ru]
#7947485 - 01/28/08 08:25 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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You shouldn't aim to rival anyone's genius, only to be inspired by how in touch they became with theirs enough that it pushes you to the very limits of your own.
-------------------- Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake. -Erik Davis
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g00ru
lit pants tit licker



Registered: 08/09/07
Posts: 21,088
Loc: georgia, us
Last seen: 5 years, 1 month
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Yeah sometimes I say really depressing shit about my own abilities.
I don't know why...
Maybe I'll take some acid and sort out my thoughts
-------------------- check out my music! drowse in prison and your waking will be but loss
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CosmicFool
Psychoholic


Registered: 05/14/06
Posts: 9,581
Loc: 203
Last seen: 22 days, 8 hours
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Re: I seem incapable of brevity. [Re: g00ru]
#7947577 - 01/28/08 08:37 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Quote:
guruu said: Hemingway said his best story ever was 6 words long:
The only book by Hemingway I've read was For Whom The Bell Tolls and as I recall he went on for 4 pages describing a smell.
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OneMoreRobot3021



Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 61,024
Loc: the sky
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Re: I seem incapable of brevity. [Re: CosmicFool]
#7947590 - 01/28/08 08:38 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Try The Sun Also Rises.
-------------------- Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake. -Erik Davis
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jewunit
Brutal!

Registered: 01/11/07
Posts: 34,264
Loc: Ohio
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Let me explain something to you. Um, I am not "Mr. Lebowski". You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.
-------------------- !
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g00ru
lit pants tit licker



Registered: 08/09/07
Posts: 21,088
Loc: georgia, us
Last seen: 5 years, 1 month
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Re: I seem incapable of brevity. [Re: jewunit]
#7947674 - 01/28/08 08:55 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Quote:
jewunit said: Let me explain something to you. Um, I am not "Mr. Lebowski". You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.
You're out of your fucking element.
-------------------- check out my music! drowse in prison and your waking will be but loss
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jewunit
Brutal!

Registered: 01/11/07
Posts: 34,264
Loc: Ohio
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Re: I seem incapable of brevity. [Re: g00ru]
#7947680 - 01/28/08 08:57 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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Well played good sir.
-------------------- !
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Penguarky Tunguin
f n o r d


Registered: 08/08/04
Posts: 17,192
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You think Hemingway was brilliant, read Joyce...
-------------------- Every mistake, intentional or otherwise, in the above post, is the fault of the reader.
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g00ru
lit pants tit licker



Registered: 08/09/07
Posts: 21,088
Loc: georgia, us
Last seen: 5 years, 1 month
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They're both good.
But if we're talking about brevity...maybe Joyce isn't the best candidate for discussion.
-------------------- check out my music! drowse in prison and your waking will be but loss
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Penguarky Tunguin
f n o r d


Registered: 08/08/04
Posts: 17,192
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Re: I seem incapable of brevity. [Re: g00ru]
#7947911 - 01/28/08 09:30 PM (16 years, 4 days ago) |
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True
His short stories are short though.
-------------------- Every mistake, intentional or otherwise, in the above post, is the fault of the reader.
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HeadTripVertigo
at least I'm housebroken




Registered: 05/07/06
Posts: 10,788
Last seen: 5 years, 10 months
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The Short Happy Life of Francis MacComber
-------------------- TACOS LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers



Registered: 03/06/03
Posts: 21,287
Loc: The Ocean of Notions
Last seen: 5 months, 23 days
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There is something to be said for NOT putting your thoughts into the minimum amount of words necessary to get your point across. I mean, there is complexity and extra meaning and beauty in those words, even if they are not necessary in the most strict sense of the word.
Now, there is a point where loquacity becomes silly. I had a friend who fancied herself an amateur writer, and her sentences were just godawful to read. She thought every noun or verb needed an adjective in front of it.
"The softly shining pale yellow sun sank slowly beneath the flat horizon, its shimmering rays reaching greedily out over the their steadily shrinking domain."
There are excesses there.
But I see no problem with writing something WELL. I too find myself getting very verbose when I write. I can always find a word I can add to something, or an extra sentence that makes things sound BETTER.
Write Long. You aren't cut out for writing technical manuals, you're cut out for writing about REAL things.
You can do it well, there is no reason to try to be something you aren't.
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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Ferris
PsychedelicJourneyman



Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 11,529
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It seems I'm not the only fan of the terse style of Hemingway. I wrote a 35 page paper on him senior year. I've read his complete works. I can't believe nobody has even mentioned Old Man and the Sea. It won the Nobel Prize.
-------------------- Discuss Politics
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StonedShroom
OG shroomerite



Registered: 10/21/00
Posts: 10,876
Last seen: 6 months, 30 days
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Re: I seem incapable of brevity. [Re: jewunit]
#7963001 - 02/01/08 12:25 AM (16 years, 1 day ago) |
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Quote:
jewunit said: Let me explain something to you. Um, I am not "Mr. Lebowski". You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.
your name's Lebowski, Lebowski.
-------------------- We are not human beings going through a temporary spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings going through a temporary human experience.
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undergrounder
fluffy bunny



Registered: 11/10/06
Posts: 1,394
Loc: Sydney
Last seen: 1 year, 7 months
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Re: I seem incapable of brevity. [Re: Ferris]
#7963308 - 02/01/08 02:43 AM (16 years, 21 hours ago) |
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Quote:
Ferris said: It seems I'm not the only fan of the terse style of Hemingway. I wrote a 35 page paper on him senior year. I've read his complete works. I can't believe nobody has even mentioned Old Man and the Sea. It won the Nobel Prize.
Yeah that's the only one i've read. Especially good if you're a fisherman and you can relate.
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RIP Bigger and bolder and rougher and tougher in other words sucka there is no other...
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