The KISS Principle of Writing
KISS = Keep It Simple, Stupid!
Yesterday's blog was on getting stuck by trying to force your characters to say or do something they would never say or do -- putting words in their mouths.
There's another way that I get stuck. Overthinking. I am majorly guilty of overthinking and overplotting. It's like getting a car stuck in the mud, the only thing gunning the engine's gonna do is get you deeper in the muck. Overthinking a tough plot twist works the same way.
I usually step in the deep doo just before the climatic action scene. In MLTF, poor Piaras had those pair of goblin blades at his throat for nearly a month before I could push through to the end.
Why? Because I was overthinking it. And once I got to the scene where Raine and Piaras are trying to come up with a way to get the Saghred into the containment box, I got stuck again. Then the solution came to me.
Just poke it with a stick. (Which is what Raine ended up doing.) It was not only simple, it was obvious, and a lot of readers are telling me that it was hilarious.
So "Poke it with a stick" has become my personal KISS reminder. Sometimes the best solution is also the simplest solution.
Yesterday's blog was on getting stuck by trying to force your characters to say or do something they would never say or do -- putting words in their mouths.
There's another way that I get stuck. Overthinking. I am majorly guilty of overthinking and overplotting. It's like getting a car stuck in the mud, the only thing gunning the engine's gonna do is get you deeper in the muck. Overthinking a tough plot twist works the same way.
I usually step in the deep doo just before the climatic action scene. In MLTF, poor Piaras had those pair of goblin blades at his throat for nearly a month before I could push through to the end.
Why? Because I was overthinking it. And once I got to the scene where Raine and Piaras are trying to come up with a way to get the Saghred into the containment box, I got stuck again. Then the solution came to me.
Just poke it with a stick. (Which is what Raine ended up doing.) It was not only simple, it was obvious, and a lot of readers are telling me that it was hilarious.
So "Poke it with a stick" has become my personal KISS reminder. Sometimes the best solution is also the simplest solution.
posted by Lisa Shearin at
1:37 PM
3 Comments:
My characters usually figure these things out for themselves while I scramble to write it all down. Where I run into trouble is when the Antagonist is so convinced he's really the Hero that he won't die in the last act. I think you covered that in a previous post! I've learned to go along with it, though I do get whiplash sometimes.
There's nothing better than having the action/dialogue unfolding so quickly that my only job is writing down what I see and hear. There's no better place to be than in The Zone. ; )
Great reminder...made me look at my stories as I like to overthink/plot things at times as well. I'll remember your KISS theory...I like it.
Shelb
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