What to leave out in your writing is a special trick to be aware of as a writer. You may have heard of the expression ‘pregnant pause’. An example of this is when one of your characters asks a question and there is no response. The official term for it is the ‘non-response’. Not so catchy is it!
The pregnant pause is designed to create tension.
It is designed to show the reader what the character feels or thinks. This is where you allow your reader to use their imagination. It leads them to think more of what you as a writer imply, rather than what you say.
An easy way to do this would be to think of film writing. Not the film itself, but the storyboard aspect of it.
Implying A Story
Before a script is turned into a film, a number of artists get to work at drawing a number of pictures. Basically, this is done so the actors and crew know which diagonals to perform in and film from.
It is the ‘implied’ story that gets the attention of readers.
This is the story you as a writer leave out. It’s the story between the pictures. The gap. The bit that the reader’s imagination ‘fills in’ and creates for themselves.
It’s up to you to decide what is absolutely necessary in your text. Remember the ‘pregnant pause’ in contrast to ‘purple prose’ mentioned earlier. This is where the editing process comes into its own.
