Thursday, October 5, 2017
Brian Niemeier on How to Polish Your Prose
If there is one addition I would make to Brian Niemeier's and Ray Bradbury's advice, it is to take advantage of audio books when you can. English is still a spoken language, after all, and many of the nuances only make themselves apparent when spoken. Rhythm, meter, word order, etc.. And, for those editing their own works, the spoken word reveals mistakes and clunky prose in a more stark manner than non-verbal reading. Try reading your words aloud when editing.
Because the last thing you want is someone echoing Harrison Ford's infamous complaint--"George, you can type this shit, but you can't say it!"
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Nathan
ReplyDeletehow so? And how do listening to audiobooks help in crafting description?
Like all European languages there's a tension between spoken and written; learned words and popular.
xavier
Musicality. Language is meant to be spoken, and many readers subvocalize the words that they read. Written language, although more formal than dialogue, still has to sound right to the reader, and there are many unspoken nuances to language that are only apparent by sound. Why Big Bad Wolf instead of Bad Big Wolf, etc.?
ReplyDeleteAlso, to take a musical analogy, it is the difference between reading eighth notes of sheet music and knowing that the eighth notes of jazz standard "In the Mood" are swung instead of played straight. (In swung eighths, the first note is longer than the second.)
Nathan
DeleteThanks. The musicality angle was a big help.so should authours vocalize out loud their dialogue to help them write better?
xavier
I recommend that they vocalize their entire writing, not just their dialogue. Some of the real howlers of prose found in "The Reader's Manifesto" look good on the page--at a quick and not too observant glance, but sound awful when read aloud.
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