Saturday 21 April 2012

S is for Short

S

Short person speaking here.  At just on 5 foot, I spend a lot of my life looking up.  Living in London made summer a horror.  No tube journey was complete without my ending up with my nose wedged in someone's armpit.  Joyous.

A point I make to drama students is that short is often good.  Better a well thought out scene with a proper beginning, middle and end than an interminable muddle that blurs the point.

Short in games does not mean bad either.  Intense wins out over long-drawn any day, but is notoriously hard to achieve in PbP online.  Long stories, short episodes is what I aim for.

Short is also for this post.  I'm a fan of economical writing (pace Tolkein and the three volume gang).  One day I'll manage it myself.  In the meantime, longwinded phrases, subclauses and conjuctions are my friends.

12 comments:

  1. I don't tend to be able to keep my own writing short. Succinct I am not. I'm a big fan of short stories though!

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    1. One of the reasons I enjoy blogging so much is the need to be generally succinct.

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  2. Ok. It boils down to this; you say short - so which would you pick, as a fantasy race, that you feel best describes your height?

    Hobbit or Dwarf?

    I reckon you'll go hobbit... mainly because I've heard about your hairy feet.

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    1. You are entirely correct. Halfling it would be. And now I've turned into Yoda as well.

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  3. I'm also short, which is why I love heels. (:

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  4. @ JoJo - I envy you that extra inch in height, I really do. I spent hours trying to force tape measures to give me just those few needful millimetres and they simply won't.

    @ Elise - I go the other way on that one. Wore heels for years, but now I clump in boots and it's very satisfying.

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  5. Well, you know. The grass is always greener. At 5 foot 7 and a half, I've always wished for shorter. Wearing heels puts me taller than half the men around me, and I hate that--so it's a life of flats for me. Trousers are always too short. And I feel self-concious looking down at my friends all the time.

    My writing, however, tends to be short. Not sure what that means. :)

    Thanks for following!

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    1. I do see your point, I really do. While I envy people who can reach up to get a mug down from the spare mug shelf, I'm used to short now. The grass is always greener, as you say.

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  6. Short & sweet, perfect! Except for the armpits, of course.

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    1. Engaging in a multi-armpit experience is never good. One thing I miss not at all about London.

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  7. Hi Amanda .. I'm shortish too - was tall at one stage in my life - aged 9! Am not so succinct in my posts .. but haven't done badly in the A-Z, not today's though!

    Cheers - but good to let your students know re short - it applies to so many things, less is often better .. Hilary

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