Write with the Fewest Words Possible But...

Attributed to Einstein is this: A theory should be as simple as possible, but no simpler.

Occam's razor says, of all competing hypotheses concocted to explain something, the simplest is likely to be correct.

Then there's the KISS marking rule: Keep it Simple Stupid.

I used to think: Write with the fewest words possible. Rereading Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men, I came across a sentence that was hugely long. Yet I was at a loss as to see where I could have cut it and not ruined it.

I've revised my standard mantra: Write with the fewest words possible, but no fewer. McCarthy's sentence had no further than the fewest words possible.

I want to help move people's careers along. Is what I am saying helpful?

To find out about my new literary connectorship, contact me at 215 219 5825 or twb2@verizon.net.

Read my mystery, The Case of the Kearney Music School Murders (2007), for free at wwww.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it out.

For my ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com and for my ideas on the practice of real estate, go to www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.