Scott's Dog Takes Over The Blog - Focus on one toy and play with it until it falls apart

Hey, I'm not doing too bad with this computer thing. And this is all off of Scott's small computer and my paws are still typing well.

One of the things Scott's kids do a lot is to buy me toys. I have a ton of them! Now, don't get me wrong here, I do love my toys. But really, how many toys does a puppy really need? Heck, I have three stuffed bones and they keep getting me more.

Woops, sorry about that. This is supposed to be about writing not my toys. I did have a point to make about my toys though. Writers, too often, do the same thing with their stories that Scott's kids do. They put in too many things. It's as if someone said more is better. This is far from true.

I have heard Scott say several times that he would much prefer a story that focuses on a single item and issue and done well, then to see one with all of that stuff. He said this really happens with the contemporary stories and the women's fiction stories. Not sure what those are but I am sure you know.

The problem with adding all of that stuff is that the story simply becomes too cluttered and messy (kind of like our family room after I've been playing). And here's something else to consider. If you have kids (or an amazing dog like me) you'll understand. After all of that playing and that mess, someone has to put it all away again (and it ain't me). With stories, those final chapters are now an issue of "putting it all away" and obviously, the more issues you threw into the story, the more you have to clean up.

Gotta go now. Looks like we're off to the store.

Apollo