Comments on: Seven plays in seven days http://blankslate.net/blog/2008/03/21/seven-plays-in-seven-days/ Just another WordPress weblog Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:43:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Ben http://blankslate.net/blog/2008/03/21/seven-plays-in-seven-days/#comment-23 Ben Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:32:12 +0000 http://blankslate.net/blog/2008/03/21/seven-plays-in-seven-days/#comment-23 Well, I don't know if I <i>quite</i> agree with Johnson :P, but you really do have to be willing to strike out any passage that stops contributing to the work as a whole. In revising my plays I've had to cut out favorite sections all the time. At first it was hard, but I've gotten used to it -- besides, I can always use those sections again later in some other work. And it actually feels rather cathartic to cut out all the fat and get straight to the meat. Well, I don’t know if I quite agree with Johnson :P, but you really do have to be willing to strike out any passage that stops contributing to the work as a whole. In revising my plays I’ve had to cut out favorite sections all the time. At first it was hard, but I’ve gotten used to it — besides, I can always use those sections again later in some other work. And it actually feels rather cathartic to cut out all the fat and get straight to the meat.

]]> By: rikker http://blankslate.net/blog/2008/03/21/seven-plays-in-seven-days/#comment-12 rikker Sat, 22 Mar 2008 17:15:55 +0000 http://blankslate.net/blog/2008/03/21/seven-plays-in-seven-days/#comment-12 On how to revise <i>Out of Time</i>, the wise words of Samuel Johnson come to mind: "Read over your compositions, and where ever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out." It's true. Or maybe it's just that Johnson, as a pioneering lexicographer, holds particular sway with me. I particularly love that in his 1755 dictionary, he defined lexicographer as "a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words." On how to revise Out of Time, the wise words of Samuel Johnson come to mind:

“Read over your compositions, and where ever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.”

It’s true. Or maybe it’s just that Johnson, as a pioneering lexicographer, holds particular sway with me. I particularly love that in his 1755 dictionary, he defined lexicographer as “a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.”

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