Thursday 23 September 2010

Why are so many modern novels over-written?

I've just finished Jonathan Kellerman's 'Therapy', an L.A. detective murder mystery (2004). Not a terrible book - I've read plenty better, and also a good few far worse. At 550 pages it demands a lot of one's time and (a common criticism I have of a lot of contemporary writing) I can't help feeling it would have been vastly improved by being half the length, while still retaining its salient plot developments. To get down to specifics, do we really need to know in such fine and extraneous detail what characters look like and are wearing at particular points? - both men and women! What does it achieve other than slowing the reader down having to get through all the unnecessary excess 'fat'. One example towards the end:-
He looked to be around thirty, with long, wavy, brown hair parted in the middle, had on a grey shirt under a cracked, brown leather jacket rubbed white at the pressure points, rumpled beige cargo pants, white running shoes.......(yawn!)
Now what would be wrong with - "He looked about 30, long brown hair and wore a leather jacket and cargo pants."? There you are. It's all we need to know, perhaps even more than is necessary - and it doesn't slow down the action nor lose any atmosphere. I'm only surprised that the author didn't also go on to describe the colour of his underwear!
And why do we have to be told exactly what they are eating all the time? Does it really matter? Where's the relevance to the story? None. If it's junk food, fine, it's junk food. If it's in a restaurant I don't want to know of what each course consists.
I wonder if all this padding is deliberately to make the book longer and so give buyers a feeling of getting their money's worth? (Do long novels sell better than shorter ones?) Otherwise wouldn't the editor and publisher recommend pruning the manuscript offered? There may be something in that, as books of under 200 pages long are often priced the same as one which is two or three times the length.
Anyway, I got through it all after several sittings, but found my impatience to reach the end was getting the better of me and reduced any enjoyment that I was getting, though there wasn't much of that anyway. (Oh, those days when one could read a complete novel in just one sitting of two or three hours!)

Well, I've already started my next book, a re-reading of Roddy Doyle's 'Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha' which I first read in 1994 a year after it had won the 'Booker' prize (Britain's most prestigious annual award for new fiction). On first reading I just couldn't get onto the writer's wavelength though this time, after 50 pages, it's going a bit better. But in any case, at a mere 280 pages long, it should be a relative 'breeze'!

10 comments:

  1. Ah, I re-read Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha last year and really enjoyed it - I think it's a brilliant book.

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  2. Thanks, Andrew. Now I'd better give Paddy Clarke even MORE attention.

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  3. Back in the day, lawyers used to get paid by the page. The longer the document they wrote, the more it was worth. Why write a will in four pages when twenty pages was worth so much more!

    Perhaps modern fiction writers are working the same deal.

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  4. Yes, Larry - I think it's the old story of 'the market/customer knows best'. 'The bigger, the better' rules! Whatever happened to crisp, concise, artfully constructed fiction? Oh dear, once again I'm sounding like the old fogey I probably am.

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  5. Blame the bloody Editors!

    Whenever I've tried to get stuff published it turns out you have to absolutely fit their spec before they'll even look at you!

    Some of the best books I've got were published by the authors themselves!

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  6. Yes, Micky. I think it might have been Stephen King in the 70s who started off the mania for regular door-stopper novels, though it may go back further. Most of his very early books were of sensible length and all the better for it - Carrie, Cujo, Pet Semetary etc - but among them were also bloated works like 'Firestarter' and 'The Stand'. Soon every second writer was doing it. You'd almost think that authors got paid by the page. Perhaps they are.

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  7. The author thought a movie will be made based on his book. LOL

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  8. Good point, Vuong. So many films nowadays are also far too long for their worth and would be improved by some judicious editing. A subject for a future blog, perhaps?

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  9. Ray, I think you and Larry are on to something. I do enjoy books with tapestry detail, but lately I have noticed many books seem to be padding themselves unnecessarily. It is annoying! I would never expect a detective book to be overly detailed, nor would I expect that of most mysteries.

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  10. Yup, Kyle. The art of concision seems to be close to dying off in so many fields. When will they ever learn that 'less can mean more'? Tell us only what's necessary - our imaginations will fill in the rest.

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