But when he re-reads what he has written,
he sees that it fails, for some unknown reason, of the power of effect
on which he had counted. His glowing description seems tawdry,
or overwrought. He knows that it is not possible that the whole is bad:
But where is the difficulty?
Almost invariably the trouble will be found to be in some false phrase,
for one alone is enough to spoil a whole production. It is as if a
single flat or sharp note is introduced into a symphony, producing a
discord which rings through the mind during the whole performance.
To detect the fault, go over the work with the utmost care, weighing
each item of the description, and asking the question, Is that an
absolutely necessary and true element of the picture I had in mind?
Nine times out of ten the writer will discover some sentence or phrase
which may be called a "glittering generality," or that is a weak
repetition of what has already been well said, or that is simply "fine"
language---sentimentality of some sort. Let him ruthlessly cut away
that paragraph, sentence, or phrase, and then re-read. It is almost
startling to observe how the removal or addition of a single phrase will
change the effect of a description covering many pages.
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