Are you a reader who values a writer's style as much as the meaning it conveys?

Are you a writer who seeks to refine your own style?

Would you like to improve your understanding of the techniques writers use to create beautiful sentences?

Welcome to the search for the perfect sentence!


Most readers and writers focus on the content of a piece--the ideas it conveys, the story it carries, the events it chronicles. "So many books, so little time" we readers chorus, rushing through our stories, newspapers, websites. "Is it finished?" we writers ask. "Have I written enough words? Have I gotten the content across?"

Here we'll focus on the style of writing more than its content. We'll slow down. We'll read very short passages, sometimes single sentences, and we'll savor their wordcraft. We'll examine why each word was chosen, how they were arranged into sentences, and how those sentences evoke our responses. In the process, I hope we'll become more careful, perceptive readers and more effective writers.

Beautiful writing is everywhere--on the sports page of the morning paper, in the novel that relaxes you at night, in your grandmother's love letters found in the attic. If you would like to contribute a passage for close reading, with or without your own interpretation of its techniques, please email me at jtarasovic@gmail.com.


Showing posts with label Raphael Sabatini. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Raphael Sabatini. Show all posts

Monday, March 8, 2010

The Rhythm of Prose

Here's the opening sentence of Raphael Sabatini's Scaramouche: "He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad."

There's nothing overtly unusual about this sentence. Its words are short and ordinary. Its sentence structure is clear and uncomplicated. What makes it so catchy?

What grabs our attention here, I think, is the music underlying the words. Read the sentence aloud and tap your foot or finger as you feel the beat. To me it sounds like this:

He was BORN with a GIFT of LAUGHter // and a SENSE that the WORLD was MAD.
Read more »
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)