All Crenelated and Scratching and Invisible as Hell
- From: Just Me <jpdm45@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 20:38:12 -0800 (PST)
On Dec 1, 4:39 pm, Bill Penrose <dangerousb...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
But it's the beginning of a monstrous book whose story requires a lot
of setup. The writing is fine. Sentence structure is average, no words
that make you stop and scratch, like 'crenelated', no grammatical loop-
de-loops, no expressions that make you stop and gaze open-mouthed in
awe. I'd call it 'invisible'.
Not while you're looking at it, of course. It's just whether you
remember what happened but not the words that got you there.
This should be most especially true when it comes to Dickens,
Shakespeare, and oh, you might as well throw in Oscar Wilde--IF you
can remember any of their words, they have failed to do their job as
writers; historical plaudits, Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, canons of
literature be damned. What has writing to do with memorable "words"?
Keep one thing always in mind, and quote at will: "Excellence is an
indulgence and conceit. Let every writer strive to be so common,
invisible, unremarkable and inartistic as humanly possible. Therein
lies the key to accomplishment and riches."
EXAMPLE of the sort of egotistically "visible" writing as would
contain "a message" (not sent via Western Union), long Faulknerian
sentences with many a "grammatical loop-de-loop", and/or "expressions
that make you stop and gaze open-mouthed in awe" . . .
"TO THE RED COUNTRY and part of the gray country of Oklahoma the last
rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth. The plows
crossed and recrossed the rivulet marks. The last rains lifted the
corn quickly and scattered weed colonies and grass along the sides of
the roads so that the gray country and the dark red country began to
disappear . . ."***
It just makes you stop and cringe, to leave you all crenelated and
scratching to wonder, "Just who the hell did he think he was anyway--
John Steinbeck?"
--
JM http://bobbisoxsnatchers.blogspot.com
http://doo-dads.blogspot.com
"Create a story that will involve a reader and not distract with
tortured sentence constructions and obscure references." *Criteria for
Cretins: a style manual* by "Hotfingers" Pulpstack Hackworthy, Esq &
Company.
***Grapes of Wrath, 1938
.
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