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<blockquote data-quote="Wicht" data-source="post: 222141" data-attributes="member: 221"><p>Now, I have no formal training as a writer but I am an avid reader and a fairly intelligent person (most of the day anyway) and, besides which I have an opinion or two... one of which is...</p><p></p><p>Simplicity is preferable to complexity. (An intelligent person can understand the complex but it takes a genius to make it simple. That's one of my mottos anyway.) </p><p></p><p>This is a philosophy I hold to be true in almost every aspect of life. Take any engineering field, the simpler you can make a process the less room there is for error. </p><p></p><p>I think it holds true in literature as well. The school of thought that teaches a person to make the characters complex, etc., IMHO do not necessarily prepare people to write well nor to necessarily communicate well through their writing. And that is what writing is, a form of communication. A writer who hides double, triple and quadruple meanings into his work that only he in the end can recognize is doing nothing more than stroking his ego. He has not necessarily communicated well.</p><p></p><p>I look at the parables of Jesus (and no, I am not swerving off into religion, just making a point about communication). These parables are simplicity themselves, but they communicate the symbolic meaning so very clearly. Why do symbolic references in literature demand complexity? Take Aesops fables. Very simple. Very profound. Tolkien wrote a profound work about the nature of duty and he did so in a simple straightforward style. Lovecraft wrote groundbreaking horror, in a simple (though wordy) style. Robert Howard excites people in a simple fashion. Simplicity does not, despite the naysaying of many academics equal stupidity nor does it mean that the writing is poor. Sometimes it is the sign of a great writer.</p><p></p><p>(I'm not sure if this is directly related to what the gnome posted but its my .02 and I thought I would throw it in)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Wicht, post: 222141, member: 221"] Now, I have no formal training as a writer but I am an avid reader and a fairly intelligent person (most of the day anyway) and, besides which I have an opinion or two... one of which is... Simplicity is preferable to complexity. (An intelligent person can understand the complex but it takes a genius to make it simple. That's one of my mottos anyway.) This is a philosophy I hold to be true in almost every aspect of life. Take any engineering field, the simpler you can make a process the less room there is for error. I think it holds true in literature as well. The school of thought that teaches a person to make the characters complex, etc., IMHO do not necessarily prepare people to write well nor to necessarily communicate well through their writing. And that is what writing is, a form of communication. A writer who hides double, triple and quadruple meanings into his work that only he in the end can recognize is doing nothing more than stroking his ego. He has not necessarily communicated well. I look at the parables of Jesus (and no, I am not swerving off into religion, just making a point about communication). These parables are simplicity themselves, but they communicate the symbolic meaning so very clearly. Why do symbolic references in literature demand complexity? Take Aesops fables. Very simple. Very profound. Tolkien wrote a profound work about the nature of duty and he did so in a simple straightforward style. Lovecraft wrote groundbreaking horror, in a simple (though wordy) style. Robert Howard excites people in a simple fashion. Simplicity does not, despite the naysaying of many academics equal stupidity nor does it mean that the writing is poor. Sometimes it is the sign of a great writer. (I'm not sure if this is directly related to what the gnome posted but its my .02 and I thought I would throw it in) [/QUOTE]
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