Complicated Systems (Like Writing)

When faced with complicated systems (especially really complicated systems that they didn’t invent themselves), people nearly always try to simplify them. There are two common approaches: Either they break the complicated system down into smaller, less complicated parts; or else they go looking for rules and recipes that other people have used to successfully deal with the overall system and/or the less complex pieces.

Writing fiction is complex. The writer has a bazillion things to pay atten...