‘A good rule for writers: do not explain over-much’
‘A good rule for writers: do not explain over-much’ (Somerset Maugham: A Writer’s Notebook). Like most of what he had to say about the craft of writing, this was good advice, although he didn’t always follow it himself. Even in his best stories he was inclined to tell you quite a lot about his characters before showing them in action or letting us hear them speak. Breaking his own rule worked well for him, because one of the charms of his writing rests in the knowledgeable man-of-the-world tone. You always feel that he is giving you the low-down on human nature.
Still, leaving things out is usually a good idea. Hemingway insisted that you could leave anything out of a story so long as you knew what you were omitting, and that the story would be stronger as a result.
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