This isn't necessarily a step in the process so much as a larger mandate that guides all work going forward. When it comes to history, or names, or backstory, or interplanetry socioeconomic policy, keep it simple. There are a few reasons for this: 1) Simple is catchy and memorable. You can remember Darth Vader. You're going to struggle with Lord Vasothos Darakanovochinovin, Dark Knight Templar of the Mixovax and Keeper of the Crystal Blade of Brum Katarathan. Sure, he sounds kind of cool, but it's just too much. 2) Simple is ICONIC. Simple comes across as somehow larger and more enduring. Lord Vasothos is going to be defeated and replaced by another warlord at some point. Darth Vader is forever. 3) It forces you to distill things to their essence. You get closer to truth more quickly.
As a writer, this goes at odds with what I (sorry!) have been teaching students for two decades. It took me until about three years ago to finally realize the damage I was doing in giving students minimum word count requirements or page requirements. Yes, you need to write enough to answer the question or address the prompt. But, a word count is an artificial way to encourage students to write enough. Even worse, it encourages students to write filler. If I just jam more words in there, it's better. 250 words is better than 100 words. That's just math.
But writing and storytelling and game design are not math (okay, that last one totally is, but not in this way).
As a writer, I have fallen into that trap. I want to write a 75,000-word novel, so if I write 1,000 words today, I am closer to that goal. If I only write 500 words (even if those 500 words are much, much better) I am further from my goal. As a game designer, it is the almighty page count. Can I stretch this to 64 pages? If I add a few more monsters and a few more spells, can I get to 80? 80 would be sweet.
As a cartoonist, I want to publish a graphic novel that is 300 pages. So, I have to rush through today's page because I'm not getting any younger, and this son-of-a-behemoth is not going to write and draw itself.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrongwrongwrong. Any time I'm looking to stretch or push my word count or get through a page, I'm producing lower-quality work.
I've lingered on this because this 'must make more' philosophy directly undermines the 'simple principle'. Simple is short. It's direct. It says only what it needs to say, and no more. So, if you have a running page or word count in your head, the temptation to add a few more details that aren't really important or to give the character an extra flourish to their name is going to be strong, because it gets you further along the road to 'done'.
On the micro level, the simple principle forces me to condense things. How can I get these two parts of the character condensed into one trait? How can I communicate all of this about his backstory in one sentence? How can I demonstrate the complex history between these two characters in a single exchange?
Working on comic strips for a few years helped me to refine this. With a comic strip, you only have a small space to work in, and you are always trying to jam as much fun stuff into that small space as you can. It's an entirely different approach.
Avoiding spoilers here, but it was probably my favorite thing about Book of Boba Fett Episode 5 today. There was a silent exchange between three characters with helmets on, and it lingered for about 3 seconds. And in that three seconds I started giggling and was like 'oh my God it's ON'. I knew what every character wanted, and what they were willing to do, and how bad it was going to get, based on the exact right choice for a moment of silence between the characters. It was brilliant. And it was simple.
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