29 March 2004
Nettle
How many visitors to Labyrinth have sent us sets of their 10 favourtie books? Over 200. Yeet of all of these, none has found room for Horace. But there must be so many people out there who, with a clasicla education or an autodidact's approach to broad learning, admire his writing.
If you leaf through a dictionary of quotations, you will find pages and pages of Horace. It was he who coined the phrase:
Carpe diem. (Seize the day.)
But you perhaps don't know the full text ...
Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero. (Seize today and put as little trust as you can in the tomorrow.)
When you are editing your own work, it is difficult to judge what must go and what must stay. There is a temptation simply to write more, to extend and expand. This is all very well as a starting point, but you must then cut back.
I read a story for a friend last week who wanted some editorial comments. It was beautifully put together - about 3000 words - in a satisfying loop: you arrived at the end of the story and found yourself where you started, but with a much better understanding of the interplay of characters and circumstances.
At the beginning of the story, my friend had written a beautiful dialogue. It introduced two characters and set up certain themes for the rest of the text.
I only had one substantial suggestion on the text. I thought that he should cut that dialogue. It wasn't dull or awkward - it flowed nicely - but one of the two characters faded from the tale and, if the dialogue stayed in, the reader would always be waiting for them to return. The remainder of the story - if the dialogue was left in - would inevitably have been accompanied by a sense of 'something missing' ...
So, in the proverbial phrase, I recommended grasping the nettle and cutting it out. Which must remind you of Dr Johnson's phrase about finding something in your writing that you think 'particularly fine' and deciding to 'cut it out!'
On another topic, the Orange Prize for Fiction has announced plans to celebrate emerging female writing talent with the establishment of a new prize: the Orange Award for New Writers. It will be awarded for the first time in 2005 to coincide with the Orange Prize for Fiction's 10th birthday celebrations. This annual award will focus on potential and emerging talent with the winner receiving £10,000 This sum is intended to help the winning writer pursue their work with greater freedom.
So, whether you are editing or writing, carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
There is room for new writing in the Labyrinth.
