When most people think of creative pursuits like writing, they think of it as making something out of nothing–inventing a tale through placing words on a page.
And this is true.
Like painters, writers are usually tasked with turning a blank canvas into something beautiful and wonderful and life-changing. Any writer can tell you the thrilling (or terrifying!) emotion of staring at a blank page or word processor, knowing that they must come up with something to fill the page.
But, on the flip side, there’s a time in every written article or story when the writer must become more like a sculptor than a painter. What do I mean by that? Let’s look at how to free your story through acting like a sculptor.
Writing like a Sculptor
Perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away. – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand and Stars
Think about sculptors for a moment. What do they do? Their work takes a ton of skill, effort, and time, but in simple terms they take a block of stone, wood, or another material and begin to chisel away at it…and chisel away at it…and chisel away at it…until a form emerges from the block.
In his memoir Wind, Sand and Stars, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry writes about this phenomenon, saying that a sculptor probably feels “that he is not so much inventing or shaping the curve of breast or shoulder as delivering the image from its prison.”
What if we thought about writing this way?
Of course, you need to have a block of material to carve away at first…but that’s what a first draft is for. The real magic of writing happens in this second stage–the sculpting stage–when you begin to create greater detail and beauty by chiseling away and cutting out the unnecessary.
The Paradox of Creation
While to most of us creation simply means making and generating something, the paradox of creation is that to make the best possible creation you actually have to delete and destroy.
It’s a strange but compelling idea–that the place where creation and destruction touch is the place where true brilliance and artistry is found.
As such, great writing must find this balance between creation and a willingness to sacrifice and destroy sections of your work. Your true story and your best possible creation lies in this place waiting to be freed and delivered from its prison of unnecessary material.
How Can You Free Your Story?
Knowing this, how can we free our writing? Once we have our first draft, how can we “discover” the story that is waiting to emerge?
1. Find the Core Idea
The best stories–like the best sculptures–have a cohesive, unifying idea that the artist sticks to no matter what. Like a sculptor, you’re going to have to find that core idea that is at the heart of your story in order to chisel away everything else that doesn’t matter.
So ask yourself: what is the main idea of your story? And then make yourself check everything you’ve written against this main idea. If anything you’ve written doesn’t line up with your core idea, it’s time to cut it or change it.
2. Cut Everything Vague
Once you know your core idea, the next step is to read through your writing and cut out everything vague. And I do mean everything. Vague expressions, vague descriptions, generalizations of all kinds…you name it. Cut it all.
Want to know if you’ve written something vague? Read your work aloud and then ask yourself if you have described exactly the ideas/perceptions you want your readers to hear.
Example: She entered the room (Vague!) vs. She nervously walked into the dark room (Better!).
I’ve written before about using concrete details to write what you see, but this really is one of the biggest aspects of freeing your story. You want to use concrete language to describe and explain, not language that is confusing, imprecise, or cliché.
3. Sweat the Details
The devil’s in the details–and so is your story.
Think about Michelangelo’s Pieta for a second. It’s a masterpiece. But imagine if he had neglected to sculpt the way Jesus’ knees dimple or the tension in the tendons in his hands…or imagine if he had paid less attention to sculpting the fall of the fabric, or Jesus’ and Mary’s eyebrows!
Would this statue still have the same general shape? Yes. Would it still be a masterpiece? Most likely not.
Like Michelangelo, you need to pay attention to all the details in your story. There are too many possible details to mention them all, but here are a few of the most important ones:
Avoid Passive Voice
If you can, it’s usually best to avoid passive voice. If you actively choose to use passive voice for stylistic reasons, then go for it! But if it’s just a habit, then try to active voice so your writing will be more concise and easier to follow.
Example: The cake was eaten by my coworker (Passive!) vs. My coworker ate the cake (Active!)
Choose a Strong Word
If you find yourself using qualifiers a lot in your writing (like “very,” “somewhat,” “fairly,” “pretty,” etc.) then it’s probably time to choose different and more descriptive words. This will help your writing make a punch, instead of sounding weak!
Example: She was very tired (Weak!) vs. She was exhausted, or She was weary (Strong!)
Say Goodbye to Weak Verbs
Verbs are the action of your writing, so you want to choose a strong and exciting one for each of your sentences! Often, it’s easy to forget this key part of writing and start hiding your main verb behind other less important/less exciting verbs.
Example: He needed to find a solution for the problem vs. He needed to solve the problem
This is a more common problem than you probably realize, so watch out for the times you may be weakening and lengthening your sentence by burying your action behind other verbs!
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