Complexity vs Depth

You know, whenever I hear people mention the supposed intricacies of complexity and depth, it usually has to do with video games, like, how many mechanics are integrated within the gameplay and how many creative outcomes you can think of within a single rule-set. Here, though, I wanna present my opinions on the complexity vs depth debate within the context of a written narrative. This isn't to pretentiously declare that I know what I'm talking about, but what I want to see more of in modern stories, particularly on this site, and just my underlying, personal, subjective, totally-not-controversial opinion. Did I make that clear enough? Cool.

Complexity is how many variables present within the medium, how many unique pieces you can count. This can be relevant for many things, so in this case, I'm talking about words, phrases, syntax, all that nail-biting stuff. Writers often believe that they may appear intelligent and sophisticated if the stories they put on the tables are as complicated and with as many interweaving parts as possible. I'll be one to say that a convoluted story is, when poorly executed, by far one of the worst things you can obligate your eyeballs to witness. It's hard to follow, an incomplete mess, painfully cringe-worthy, et cetera. I think Einstein put it best, and I'll paraphrase: "Any fool can make something complicated, it takes a genius to make something simple."

Depth, on the other hand, is how many different themes, meanings, interpretations, and overall subtleties a particular text may convey. You can write a profoundly deep quote with words so simple a second-grader can understand. Here's an example I got from Google:

"Everyone has a chapter they don't read out loud."

You can say that everyone lies, everyone holds onto a dark secret they in no way intend to share with the rest of the world, and elaborate by asking why anyone doesn't want the world to 100% understand them. You can write several essays based on this quote alone. This is the idea of depth over complexity.

Here's what I personally believe: you should try to achieve the maximum amount of depth possible with the minimum amount of complexity. That's to say, you want to express yourself clearly with as few words as possible. This is something that takes an insane amount of skill to hold together.

I'm not saying that complexity is a bad thing, and that you must avoid it like the Black Plague, if the Black Plague could travel oversees. Complexity, when done well, can compliment depth. Sure, sometimes you'll be forced to use fancier words and longer descriptions and wordier dialogue because, whatever the reason, you just aren't capable of adequately expressing your ideas any other way. If you are going to add more complexities to an otherwise moving formula, you should always try to make it count. Here's what I mean:

Whatever you write, plan it in advance. Don't jot something down, continue on with your story, only to realize: "Shit, what I wrote before doesn't really work. I better go back and change it." Truth be told, I'm guilty of this—by a lot, actually, though I'm also trying my hardest to improve. You also need to make sure that whatever it is you write bears relevance to the plot, either immediately, halfway into the climax, or towards the end. Whenever you introduce something new, be it a character, an event, an object, or an abstract idea, stick with it until you're absolutely certain that you know it'll stick, and once that's done, you can move on to the next part. This means that you won't have an overabundance of varied complexities all over your story, which in turns leads to a convoluted mess.

This is all advice to ensure you don't make an overly complex story without tripping on your own ambitions. But you know what it may also ensure, should you do it competently? Added depth. If you can add complexities to your story and make each and every one of them purposeful and appropriately overlapping, you can make your story that much deeper. It's much easier said than done, of course.

I think that the best stories contain a good balance of complexity and depth: stories that manage to tell an exciting, fulfilling story while bringing across the ideas and themes the author intended to put forth. Poorly-done complexity is just bleach-your-brain messy, and poorly-done depth is tedious, boring, and not worth your time.