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Hock Hochheim – Author

Backgrounds and Backdrops in Writing

Posted on February 22, 2022February 22, 2022

 

Elmore Leonard always said, and I paraphrase, “don’t write the parts that no one reads (skips over).” Here is the written down version.

 

It’s weird though, about stuff like that. I know some readers that like the backdrops, but a good writer knows when enough is enough. Some don’t and drop too much, hurting the tempo of the story. I could mention many authors, but I won’t. My idea is that you must “poetically” condense a setting or background as short as possible. (This is where Hemingway shined before his brain damage from accidents and booze.)

Years ago when I wrote My Gun is My Passport, Gunther travels to Washington DC circa 1906. I decided to describe the 1906 train station (I had a few historical photos). I condensed the surroundings, “poetically.” I slaved over it a bit, I confess, painting it up, yet condensing it down. Some ten years later a “fan-reader” wrote me “out of the blue,” and described how much he liked “My Gun” and what did he pick to mention over this big, international action-epic? He said that he really loved the way I described the DC train station scene! Huh? What the____? That passing scene of getting the protagonist from point A to B?

It’s tricky trying to make every reader happy. My compromise is the poem approach. All the good, above-average books, action ones or otherwise, should be a poem without rhymes. Lyrics without music. I shoot for this and it…ain’t…easy. There is a beat and music to writing. The soundtrack to every scene. It’s a torture I guess must enjoy chiseling on?

(Speaking of Ernest, the photo above is Jane and me on Pilar, Hemingway boat in Florida. We did the Key West thing.)

Gunther's Western Hero Adventure Series by W. Hock Hochheim

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