somewhat OT but I think when we're talking about writing it
all comes around
-
Following up my own post:
>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.
I remember now that I had this thought about the "Harry
Potter" books. Heard Harold Bloom on NPR waxing philosophical
about how JK Rowling is a bad writer because she used the
phrase "stretch your legs" too many times. I thought this was
rather nonsensical and for the most part was probably just
Bloom trying to be difficult, as he sometimes does (probably
my favorite Bloomism is his insistence that in "As you like
it," Orlando is quite aware that "Ganymede" is Rosalind and
is just pretending not to know in order to flirt with her;
the logic apparently being that it's just not realistic for
him not to notice the resemblance, which isn't that different
than Samuel Johnson's insistence that "Macbeth" is a flawed
play because everyone knows that nobody can predict the
future).
Anyway, listening to Bloom I realized that Rowling's style
had made almost no impression on me one way or another, and
the only thing I could remember were the characters and the
story. That's good writing to me. I can't think of any crime
writers who have really affected me this way, or perhaps I
just pay more attention to style in crime fiction because it
seems to be an important part of the genre. I first mentioned
Rankin as not giving me any "wow" moments; that doesn't mean
he's totally smooth - does trip me up from time to time, esp.
using a lot of incomplete sentences in a way that felt
forced. I only noticed this the last time around on audio. I
listen to audio books out of necessity - long commute, which
is often the only time I have to "read" - but it's also a
good exercise every once in a while anyway. It's a lot easier
to notice who writes clunky, expository dialogue and who uses
the same word a few times too many.
Westlake/Stark and Grafton work particularly well on audio I
think; and Robert Forster's reading of Block's "Hit Man" is
priceless. Rankin works better for me in print.
Carrie
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