Red Széll

And I think that's it.

Good writing is concise.

Every word earns its place and tells you something about the subject or the person that you're reading about.

Dull.

His hand shook so much that he couldn't get the key into the keyhole.

That, without saying he's scared, conveys it all.

This is the one that really struck me.

David Mitchell, the author of Cloud Atlas, once said or wrote, adverbs and adjectives are the cholesterol that clog the arteries of the story.

If you're just reading adjective after adjective after adjective, you're never going to get that sentence.

You know, a well-placed adjective or adverb works great.

But, you know, don't heap it on.

You can have intense paragraphs.

You can have intense sentences.

chapters but sometimes you need to pull back and actually just have something that's a bit lighter that you know nobody sprints

for 800 metres.

There is a variation in pace.

Well, nobody sprints a marathon, and a novel is a long work.

You have to have variation in pace.

You have to have... You have to give the reader time to be able to gather their thoughts.

I think sometimes there's a temptation in novels to forget that...