>I know what you're talking about. And there are
authors whose >sentences I
>stop and reread because they get something so right
or >state it so
>eloquently. However, is this necessarily a good
thing? >Isn't there
>something to be said for transparent prose, writing
that >calls no
>attention to itself, so it never gets between you and
the >story?
>Obviously, bad writing gets between you and the story
in >another way.
>Mark
Oh, sure, it takes all kinds. I know I was even recently
thinking of an author I liked for just that reason though of
course I can't remember who it was at the moment. Just for me
personally, though, these writers are probably less likely to
be among my favorites - unless they write really amazing
dialogue or characters or something else that makes them
stand out.
Talking about writing that gets between you and the story - I
recently read Dean Koontz for the first time ("Fear Nothing"
- elements of HB as well as horror and sci-fi, so I'm
somewhat on topic). I thought there were a lot of individual
passages in the book that were very funny or clever or had
very original metaphors, but these ended up working against
the story for me rather than with it. I got the impression of
someone who was the cleverest kid in his creative writing
class 30 years ago (he's been around at least that long) but
had never bothered to get any better or create a coherent
style out of all these elements. After a while I was thinking
"stop being so clever and just tell the story" - though there
are plenty of individual passages I could have singled out
for praise, the ultimate effect was just to take me out of
the story (and I should say there were some pretty bad
passages as well). I don't know how representative this is of
Koontz's stuff.
Carrie
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