Sometimes “better writing” isn’t better storytelling.

Over the last two years, I have come to understand that it is not the publishers that dictate one’s voice, though you can allow them to do so. One’s voice comes from the agency and ability of one to stand up for oneself.

I have fought against a variety of editors and recommendations that tell me that all of my prose should be concise and curt. Every word should have a purpose, and adverbs are the bane of mankind.

I have also learned about Chekov’s gun and the concept that anything mentioned in the novel must be used. And it is my assertion that everything mentioned in a novel is ALREADY used, as fodder for world-building.

If you are a planner, and you plan for something, then feel free to adhere to the rigmarole editors and publishers tend to foist upon you, but if you can let yourself step out of your role as a writer… and step into a role as a storyteller, you will see that it is not the actions that provide the real story, it is the world around them. It is the reasoning for telling the tale that truly matters.

Dick ran.

See Dick run.

Jane saw Dick run.

The end. This is the whole story, no fluff, no extras, no life–at all.