Nothing So Boring as a Straight Line
Girl meets boy, girl falls for boy, girl marries boy – boring. Girl meets boy, girl turns up dead, boy arrested for murder- boring. Whether we write sweet or gritty, a story needs lots of twists, with a little sweet in the grit and a little grit in the sweet.
The same goes for paintings. Although Pareto’s principle: the 80/20 rule, or the Law of the Vital Few (which I prefer), is often misused, I think it holds pretty darn true in art and in literature.
Eighty percent of the emotional impact should come from twenty percent of the entirety. At least, that’s my target. Sometimes 70/30 is a better split. Sometimes 75/25. Never 50/50.
Paradise Cursed, the paranormal novel in my computer at present, is 80% spooky happenings with a love story thrown in and 20% heart-galloping scary (at least, that’s my intention). No one remembers an entirety, and a story or painting that has too much going on all over is not much better than one with nothing going on.
It’s the 80% area respite that makes the 20% impact all the more engaging. That significant 20% has to be emotionally evocative.
So how many twists are optimum? If we apply the 80/20 rule, that would be five. There may be many more changes – setting, POV, weather, characters added or deleted, etc – but only five significant twists.
On my easel at present are two paintings I’m struggling to complete, and this morning I reminded myself to check out the Law of the Vital Few.
Which few elements are making the biggest impact?
Which few do I want to make the biggest impact?
Where are they?
How am I obscuring them?
How can I enhance them?
Anytime we start a new art or writing project, the Law of the Vital Few is good to remember. Anytime we get stuck on a project, the questions above are important to ask. And after it’s finished, when you are so close to the material that you can’t see whether the emotional impact is working the way you intended, a good thing to ask someone you trust is, “What part do you find most engaging?”
