Raymond Carver and the Art of Omission

Less as More

I’ve been re-reading Carver’s Cathedral this week, marveling at how much he manages to communicate by saying almost nothing. Carver was a master of the “missing piece.” He understood that if you describe the way a man holds a cigarette or the way he avoids eye contact, you don’t need to describe his entire failed marriage.

The reader is a natural detective. They want to piece the story together themselves. When we over-describe, we rob them of that pleasure. By leaving gaps in the narrative—by refusing to look directly at the trauma or the joy—we create a “ghost” of an emotion that haunts the reader long after the book is closed.

The Monroe Minute
Remove the last two sentences of your current scene. See if the “echo” of the ending remains visible without them.

Until the next page,
Sloane S. Monroe

Sloane Shay Monroe

I don’t write to idealize love, but to explore it honestly, with emotional precision and depth.