Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Why "go long" explained
"Why do I go on so long? Part of it is the context. I'm addressing a readership that knows almost nothing about, say, Wayne Shorter, and consequently I have to explain things that could be taken for granted if I were writing about him for a music magazine. I need to establish who he is, and why he's worth writing about -- and that takes up many column inches right there. At the same time, there have to be ideas in the piece; ideas that transcend music or the question of whether someone's new CD is any good or not, because regardless of whether my readers have the leisure to read a long piece or their level of education, I've got to grab their attention quickly and hold it for a few thousand words. I mean, after all, there might be an article on the future of Islam or something like that in the same issue, and I'm competing with that. It's not like I'm trying to provide the last word on Wayne Shorter (to use him as an example), or even the first word. In terms of most of The Atlantic's readers, what they're hearing from me is the only word they're ever going to hear about him.
"Finally, though, I write long pieces because that's my nature. Believe me, I admire brevity. I just don't seem able to achieve it."
(from an interview by Clouds & Clocks with Francis Davis, courtesy Scott Woods)
¶ 3/17/2004 09:53:00 PM
"Why do I go on so long? Part of it is the context. I'm addressing a readership that knows almost nothing about, say, Wayne Shorter, and consequently I have to explain things that could be taken for granted if I were writing about him for a music magazine. I need to establish who he is, and why he's worth writing about -- and that takes up many column inches right there. At the same time, there have to be ideas in the piece; ideas that transcend music or the question of whether someone's new CD is any good or not, because regardless of whether my readers have the leisure to read a long piece or their level of education, I've got to grab their attention quickly and hold it for a few thousand words. I mean, after all, there might be an article on the future of Islam or something like that in the same issue, and I'm competing with that. It's not like I'm trying to provide the last word on Wayne Shorter (to use him as an example), or even the first word. In terms of most of The Atlantic's readers, what they're hearing from me is the only word they're ever going to hear about him.
"Finally, though, I write long pieces because that's my nature. Believe me, I admire brevity. I just don't seem able to achieve it."
(from an interview by Clouds & Clocks with Francis Davis, courtesy Scott Woods)
¶ 3/17/2004 09:53:00 PM
