At 08:57 AM 15/01/2006 -0800, you wrote:
>Kerry,
>
>Re your question below:
>
>"Is there any rule in writing that can be laid
down
>hard and fast that all must follow?"
>
>Sentences that make some minimal grammatical
sense,
>and words that have some minimal definitional
meaning.
>A whole book that went something like
this:
>
>aovoib*^y482qlf;k08210948ug.,><hjnb'wq948-cv.bn1&30087043-0)(8
>
>probably wouldn't get published.
Well, yes, but there are exceptions to this too. Language for
one. There are books published in other parts of the world
that, to me, look pretty much like your sentence above.
Grammar and rules change, and sometimes authors make them
their own. E-mail and text-messaging on other, smaller
devices are known for the use of symbols and abbreviations
that could, might have, and probably will be adapted to a
narrative sometime. I also remember when I first started
reading White Jazz that I couldn't make sense of the thing
until I read enough to get into Ellroy's cadence and slang. I
had to learn his grammar as I went, to some extent.
And of course, there are different definitions of "published"
too.
Anyway, I digress, and I'm not going anywhere with this
except that sometimes it is the exceptions from normal
practice that make a publication unique and
interesting.
Kerry
>However, I take your point. Most rules CAN be
broken
>to good effect by a writer who knows what he's
doing.
>
>Nevertheless, there have been writers (S.S. Van
Dine
>and Father Ronald Knox both come to mind in
the
>mystery genre) who have attempted to set down hard
and
>fast rules for other writers to follow. Leonard,
at
>least as far as I understood, was not trying to
do
>that. He was describing what worked for
him.
>
>JIM DOHERTY
>
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