A good novelist is someone who is good at writing the next sentence. The next sentence must not be inconsistent with the previous sentence. …… Writing a good sentence is like solving a math problem. You have a limited number of sentences, and the goal is to come up with the most novel sentence in a given situation.

Yesterday, I read an article by novelist Kim Yeon-soo at the library and it really resonated with me. It’s nice to know that there is someone who thinks the same way as I do, even among people who write for a living. I’ve always thought that there is essentially no difference between writing and solving math problems, so I feel sad when I see writers who get lost in unfriendly or even incorrect solutions. Some writers open a parenthesis in a math problem and don’t close it until the end.

I’m about to say that this has been going on for years, that I read because I want to find good writing, and then I’m afraid I’m going to run into bad writing, so I stay away from it again, but in that moment my self-consciousness scolds me loudly for making such a ridiculous excuse. It’s creepy to blame my own laziness on other people’s writing.

On that note, I picked up two books from the library yesterday, and I’m not sure I’ll make it to the last page.