Intelligent comments from my Clarion journal.

[tanaise]

"So, Terry's advice for today: Write the story that wouldn't get written without you. Write the story that only you can tell."
The Magic Realism/Urban Fantasy discussion

Squeaky wheels, of a literary sort

Poetry vs Prose Geoff said it, I agree with it.

Finding your own mistakes

More of the Poetry vs Prose Debate

And a nonsequitor, because I wouldn't be me without one: Every boy I've asked so far can tell the difference between a sundress and a dress. And when you say the word "sundress" most of them get misty eyed for a moment. I encourage you to experiment with this one and get back to me. :)

Comments

[joemorf.livejournal.com]

Sundress!

*sigh*

Mmmmmmmmmm.

~j

[slithytove.livejournal.com]

Write the story that wouldn't get written without you.

Yep, that's pretty much the reason I started writing fiction again.

Oh, and another vote for sundresses. ^^

[dangerdean.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, sundress all the way!

[two-star.livejournal.com]

Sundress?

Nah, it does nothing.

Overalls, though. So hot.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Overalls? The I-have-no-waist garment? What on earth?

[two-star.livejournal.com]

I believe a little androgyny is just the thing for balancing out particularly attractive specimens of femininity.

[sage-and-sea.livejournal.com]

I absolutely agree - overalls are adorable on a hot girl.

Prose and all that....

[pnew8.livejournal.com]

I was reading over the comments upon prosey works and prosey sentences and I'm like thinking, sundresses and the way they move in the breeze and the freckles on the shoulder and whether the sandals that go with them has little straps or just a wide support across the base of the toes and whether they are light or dark sandals, then whether the girl has her hair up or down and if it's up, is it in a french braid or just wrapped and held by those long, thin sticks that look like chop sticks and would never hold my hair up without a strong magical spell. I'm thinking that long sentences are not necessarily bad things. I'm thinking that prose in stories can enhance the enjoyment of the fiction. Lead the reader to images that are unexpected and it's like opening a bright red package wrapped in thin silver ribbons that end in a dozen swirls of falling curls.

Then, I'm wondering how much does long sentences and prosey structure of those sentences pull a reader out of a story. Sometimes it does me, frex, Greer Gilman. Maybe Greer is not a good example, because it isn't the prose exactly that pulls me out, it is the imagery and placing the imagery into story context. As example, from "Jack Daw's Pack," and I'm not using the opening paragraph, but the one after it:

And elsewhere on that very night, late travelling the road between Cold Law and Soulsgrave Hag, no road at all but white stones glimmering, the sold sheep heavy in his purse, another Tib or Tom or Bartlemy will meet Jack Daw. He will stand at the crossroads, bawling in his windy voice, a broadside in his hand. There'll be a woodcut at the head: a hanged man on the gallantry, crows rising from the corn. Or this: a pretty drummer boy, sword drawn against the wood, and flaunting in her plumy cap. Two lover's graves, entwined. A shipwreck, and no grave at all. You must take what he gives. Yet he will barter for his wares, and leave the heavy purse still crammed with coppers, for his fee is light. He takes only silver, the clipped coin of the moon: an hour of the night, a dream of owls. Afterwards, the traveller remembers that the three-string fiddle had a carven head, the face his own. With a cold touch at his heart, he knows that Jack Daw's fiddle wakes the dead; he sees their bones, unclad and rising, clothing with the tune. They dance. He sees his girl, left sleeping as he thought; Joan's Jack, gone for a soldier; his youngest child. Himself. They call him to the dance. He sees the sinews of the music string them, the old tunes, "Cross the Water to Babylon," "The Crowd of Bone." Longways, for as many as will, as must, they dance: clad in music, in the flowers and the flesh.

I'm thinking there will people who absolutely love the sound and the feel of the composition of this and there will be people who think the writing makes them work too hard at it. And that's okay, because some people like mysteries and some people like horror and regardless of the story, there will be readers who like it and readers who do not, editors who like it and editors who do not, and the only solid ground that a writer can stand on is to write the best story they know how to write while remaining true to the way the words sound and feel when they're writing it.

Does that make sense?

Quote from Jack Daw's Pack, Copyright © 2003 by Greer Gilman and Century Publishing. All rights reserved. From http://www.centurymag.com/excerpt0506.html.

Re: Prose and all that....

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

I think that poetry has its place. And that poetics have their place. But that ultimately the important thing to remember is that is a story, not a poem, and thus the words may be pretty, but more importantly should be leading the story in the right direction. Despite my poetry habits, I believe that by and large my words should be invisible. Which doesn't quite sound like it fits with the stylemonkey, I know, but I think it does--the words are important, but they are transparent still, and if you look at the style monkey things, you remember, "god, I love what she did with words in this story" (I'm thinking of Kelly, for example), but you don't remember what the words used where, just that they were lovely and perfect. They're like a dream, really, where you wake up knowing it was all perfect, even if you can't remember what it was. :)

another view

[(Anonymous)]

I cut and pasted this from a Rumor Mill thread from a few years ago, but this is what I said:

An analogy that I heard lately that's been useful to me is the difference between a window and a stained glass window. The former allows for clear gazing outside, and the latter forces you to look AT the window, notice the colors, textures, etc. Similarly, I think the traditional narrative structure tries to provide something very "transparent", where the structure itself doesn't impede in the viewing; on the other hand, style-conscious writing has an entirely different aim, as it confronts the reader, not with a view "outside" but with the language itself--its textures, strangeness, elliptical images, etc. It would be silly to go to Chartres or some other Gothic cathedral and complain about how you can't see outside because "the color's getting in the way of the view". What we're talking about are two different types of "windows" into the world, with two different sets of readerly expectations and readerly pleasures. (Maybe even two different paradigms of what fiction should be altogether). I think both are good to have in a writer's repertoire (sp.). Sometimes you want to look outside, and sometimes you want to look at the window. The trick is sometimes to cue the reader into the "game", to let them know early what your angle is.

Anyway, I thought I'd throw this in here. Good discussion and sorry for my semi-, non-LJ anonymity.

Alan

Re: another view

[blzblack.livejournal.com]

I agree with Alan (?), but of course, at some level it must become--not prose but--story or else we have what is called a prose poem, not a story.

Take care.

Trent W (with a brand new, unanonymous user logo!)

Re: another view

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

Hmm. It's a lovely analogy, and I think it works even farther--you can make stained glass windows using clear or mostly clear glass, and perhaps that's the style monkey agenda. It's lovely and it's completely functional. :)

[sage-and-sea.livejournal.com]

Sundresses. *sigh*

sundressbarefoothammockicedteatomatosgardenflowerssunshinesundress.