#12 If You Know It, Leave It Out!
Entry posted by Kel
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Have you ever been stuck thinking about how to tell the story you want to get across in your song project? Well I suppose you'd have to want to tell a story I suppose, but even for abstract ideas I may have something for you to try. Lend me your eyes and I'll write you some lines, and I'll try not to write of key!... Yeah okay, that doesn't make a lot of sense, so I'll plunge right in.
I start most projects with an idea. It could be a hook, it could be a lead in, it could simply be a theme. Regardless of how the idea is planted, sometimes it just stays there. An idea sewn into my subconscious. Sometimes it fails to germinate and other times it literally leaps out of the ground under its own steam from the get-go. It's those ideas that haven't germinated yet that I wish to address today.
What do we do with them? We can open our book, folder, database, whatever it is we use to store these gems and look at them, or we can take them out and give them a little nurturing. I recently read the Theory of Omission which was proposed by Ernest Hemmingway:
What is Hemingway's theory of omission or "iceberg principle?"
In Death in the Afternoon, Hemingway outlined his "theory of omission" or "iceberg principle." He states: "If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of the iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. The writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing."
http://www.lostgeneration.com/hemfaq.htm
My take on this is that if in writing, a writer left out everything he knew, the rest is gold. The other day I had a chance to put this theory into practice!
I am working on a collaboration with another Songstuffer, and a simple line was offered that said something like, "He got up and looked out the window."
True, sometimes we need direct lines like this to move a story along, but I happen to think our listeners want the detail, not the summary.
I thought to myself, how would Hemmingway get the subject of that line over to a window and look through it.
I'm not in any way claiming to be a Hemmingway, or anything close, but I had a go, regardless...
With a sigh that implied indulgence, he placed his gnarled, workman's hands upon the table. They quivered slightly with the effort of hoisting the bear they were attatched to out of the seat. I could almost hear the bones and sinew creak and I'm sure if I strained I would have heard each pulse resonate through the ancient cedarwood of the tabletop. The floor trembled as he lumbered over to the window and the wall strained with an impatient squeal as he rested his bulk against it. With a gentleness that belied his enormity, Simkins parted the florentine lace curtains and put his forehead against the glass. It must have felt cool to his brow compared to the intense furnace of the cabin. I noticed his eye reflected in the pane, as it scanned the sunscorched desolation outside .
OR
He got up and looked out the window.
Which would you rather hear about? Did the narrative provide any information you didn't know beforehand? Do you have questions you want answered. Even if just a little bit? I don't know about you, but I could write a whole verse on that narrative.
The idea is this, if you find it hard to know what to say, write the story and think about the things you know, and leave them out. Then include the things you don't know, because maybe, there's gold for you there, somewhere.
Don't forget to check out all the Kelisms, and everything is open for discussion. Let me know what you think, and how a Kelsim helped you out, or not! http://forums.songstuff.com/blog/181-kelisms/
Till next time,
Kel
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