Re: [bookclub] Prose style in 'Losing Your Grip'

[Nick Montfort <nickmontfort@my-deja.com>]

In article <87c2t7$bdj$1@nnrp1.deja.com>, J.D. Berry
 <jdberry@my-deja.com> wrote:

> Well, regarding LYG, I was able only to get through 1 1/2 fits.
> The prose worked fine for me.  Nothing "got in the way," meaning
> there was no confusion about situations and my imagination link to
> your world was never disrupted because of clumsy writing.

The idea that the writing shouldn't "get in the way" is an interesting
one in this discussion. In a certain sense that should hold true for
any good work -- writing should facilitate rather than obstruct what it
is intended to communicate. I put a bit of a heavier requirement on
fiction writing, though. It should be exemplary, motivating the reader
to get through the work, enjoy it, be engaged by it, and be provoked by
it. Great writing should -- I think -- provoke the reader to think
about the world in a new way, and consider perspectives never throught
about before. At least the writing should amuse, which is more commonly
accomplished in IF. But that's not the only worthwhile mode.

Faulkner doesn't just provide writing that "doesn't get in the way,"
for instance, in The Sound and The Fury. His writing grabs the reader
and forces the reader to understand words and sentences in a different
way. And, let's face it, however serious or skilled we might be, IF
authors are in the same boat with Faulkner, who wrote the sections of
his novel from the perspective of four different characters, as if
calling ChangePlayer.

> Is there a point of diminishing
> returns when you magnify to certain levels?   Like Nick's dislike of
> your word "cram?"

I'll admit there is -- and there's a point of negative returns, too. My
critique might have gone beyond one or both of these. Usually this type
of critique isn't very helpful unless the author is trying to revise an
unpublished work, and is looking for advice. But since there's been no
discussion about prose style in IF, I thought it would be best to try
to begin concretely by looking at the Book Club selection.

-Nick M.


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