Small things can be important too
13 Wednesday Jun 2018
Written by Charles Harris in Life, Mental Game, Novels, Procrastination, Psychology, Stories
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Small things can be important too.
Sometimes, I sweat for an hour over a paragraph, a line of dialogue, a single word. 
I’ve known comedy writers argue for ages over whether the number 35 is funnier than the number 41.
And businesspeople fight to ensure that the new product is built to precisely the right spec.
Does it really matter? Does anyone really notice?
A small story about small things
I help run some local gardens, in which there’s a children’s playground. I think the people who use the gardens think it’s run by this big rich company, when in fact everyone works for free.
As a result, a few of the users leave the place in a mess. Toys tipped upside down. Rubbish left for some imaginary cleaner to clear away.
This week, I was having a walk in the sunshine and got talking to a mother who’d brought her toddler to the playground.
I thought about bringing up the fact that people should take responsibility for helping keep the place neat, but almost chickened out. I didn’t want to be confrontational.
Or pernickety.
In the end, I kept the tone neutral. I mentioned that some people think there’s a rich company behind it, whereas in fact everyone is a volunteer – and asked her simply to spread the word to other mothers that she might meet there.
Two hours later, I took a break from writing and walked round the gardens again.
The mother and toddler had gone – and all the toys had been neatly tidied and lined up.
Since then, I’ve noticed others have done the same.
Letting go or holding on?
It’s easy to let small things go, afraid of mentioning them for fear of seeming fussy or confrontational.
Sure, finding the right adjective for the hero’s jacket isn’t going to solve a massive hole in the plot or make us believe an unbelievable motivation.
And if you’re spending five years polishing your ms to a fine shine, you are probably procrastinating.
The biggest mistake people make – and not just creative people – is to hang onto something when they should finish it, warts and all, and move on to the next.
But, on the other hand, maybe the colour of the hero’s jacket, pinned down with precisely the right word, is exactly what the novel needs at that point.
Caring about quality
I remember reading about the making of Michael Cimino’s epic movie, Heaven’s Gate. Two special effects artists were complaining about Cimino, who demanded retake after retake of a series of complicated explosions.
A year later, they were working on another movie, where they were never asked to do anything twice.
They agreed, in hindsight, they missed being on a set where someone cared about the quality of the work they did.
It’s all too easy to assume small things don’t matter.
(Post script: Of course, Heaven’s Gate was a financial disaster – but a critical success. The big things do matter too. But not always in the way we expect).
8 Comments
June 13, 2018 at 10:15 pm
Charles, as a professional business analyst my job is to help the business get the system it needs from the IT department and I am constantly reminded in user meetings of the importance of using just the right word. I’ve had meetings almost completely collapse because of one word. So, yeah, I agree entirely. But I also like your previous comment about procrastinating due to secondary goals. It really describes my entire writing career which consists of writing and rewriting stories over and over again and never submitting them anywhere.
Do you have any suggestions on how to know whether I’m procrastinating or really need to get that word right?
June 15, 2018 at 10:17 am
Hi Wayne – thank you, yes – the power of the single word! (er, Like “independence” or “control”..!)
How to know when you’re procrastinating? It can be confusing because there’s no universal rule. You can’t say that you should always work on detail or always focus on the big picture.
I think the trick is to look inside and see how it feels. Sometimes I feel that the key is listening to what I call the “little voice”. The big voice is the one that comes from the ego – the conscious desire to be safe and in charge.
By contrast, the little voice is often missed, under the noise of the big one, and it taps into our important values. The little voice is the one to listen for, and once you’ve heard it you know whether it’s saying “get this right” or “move on”.
Often the little voice says something we don’t want to hear. The option that may be a bit frightening – challenging – but it excites you with possibilities. That’s the other key: go for the option that’s both scary and exciting.
Tell me if this helps.
June 15, 2018 at 10:20 am
PS: Also, don’t try to do all this on your own. Get feedback on your stories from writers who know what they’re talking about. That too is scary. But from my experience, we keep changing the stuff that doesn’t really matter. An experienced writer or editor will often point out what’s good in your writing and also areas which need attention, and which you may not have realised yourself.
June 15, 2018 at 9:35 pm
Charles, yes it does help. It’s a good reminder. There are many times when I’ve done something like starting a new job which has been a disaster and, with hindsight, i realise I ignored that little voice when I should have listened to it and walked away.
With respect to your P.S. I’ve often had trouble getting this advice. A couple of times now I’ve set up critiquing groups that have collapsed, either due to one or two incompetent members (they were positively destructive) or overworked readers who flipped over top another of their many commitments. I also paid a lot of money for a critique which was very thorough and left me feeling that the entire story needed too much work to continue with it. But that might just be the procrastination voce within me avoiding the risk of yet more rejection.
I like your posts, by the way.
Wayne
June 16, 2018 at 10:37 am
Thanks, Wayne – I’m glad you like the posts.
I appreciate it’s not always easy getting good feedback. And it can be expensive.
1. Did your critique include positive feedback and was it constructive? I had one report from a producer – many years ago – that contained nothing but criticism! That can be draining.
More recently, an editor gave very constructive comments but entirely failed to say whether she actually liked any of the work. I’m more resilient than I was earlier but it would have been nice if she’d said whether she thought it was worth continuing with.
If either of these are missing, it might be worth going back to the reader and asking (a) for constructive suggestions for dealing with the problems highlighted and/or (b) whether they felt your project was worth your while continuing with.
The answers may surprise you and should at least give you more energy to persevere.
2, On the other hand, writing can be challenging work and you do have to persevere to succeed.
When the size of the job is part of the problem, I go for the sausage technique – if the sausage is large, tackle it one slice at a time.
First plot, then character, then dialogue… etc.
Best of luck
Charles
June 16, 2018 at 10:40 am
PS: To keep costs down, try getting feedback on just the opening chapters, perhaps plus a short synopsis (with ending).
The comments are likely to be just as relevant to the remainder of the ms – and when you’ve rewritten it you can then decide whether to pay for a full critique or not.
CH
June 17, 2018 at 1:47 am
The feedback I received was constructive (very) but probably a bit too optimistic when I looked at how many changes it would require – and, as always, they missed a major plot point that I thought was obvious but clearly it wasn’t.
Your suggestion to get the feedback on the first few chapters is very timely – I’m just coming to the same conclusion (although too slowly). I especially like your suggestion to work on plot, then character, then dialogue. I’ve never tried that – I keep trying to create a whole piece in one go. I’ll do that with my latest piece of work. Who knows, this time it might succeed. 🙂 Could I suggest that you might want to write a blog on the salami slice approach? I’d love to see how you do it.
June 17, 2018 at 8:21 pm
Good suggestion. I’m off on my hols soon, so if I can’t fit it in before I’ll do something afterwards.