Quote some good prose here :)

backslashbaby · Jul 20, 2009

Idea from the "Makes Me Wonder" thread.

I'd love it if others could say what about it they like or don't like.

I'm not where I can get to my novels, but I'll post a few later for sure.

Wark · Jul 20, 2009

Good prose is invisible.

backslashbaby · Jul 20, 2009

Good point.

Well, we can pretend that we can see it here

maestrowork · Jul 20, 2009

Here's from my WIP:

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backslashbaby · Jul 20, 2009

OMG that took me a second.

backslashbaby · Jul 20, 2009

Here's one:

"Thus Jemubhai's mind had begun to warp; he grew stranger to himself than he was to those around him, found his own skin odd-colored, his own accent peculiar. He forgot how to laugh, could barely manage to lift his lips in a smile, and if he ever did, he held his hand over his mouth, because he couldn't bear anyone to see his gums, his teeth. They seemed too private."

ETA: The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

Phaeal · Jul 20, 2009

backslashbaby said:
Here's one:

"Thus Jemubhai's mind had begun to warp; he grew stranger to himself than he was to those around him, found his own skin odd-colored, his own accent peculiar. He forgot how to laugh, could barely manage to lift his lips in a smile, and if he ever did, he held his hand over his mouth, because he couldn't bear anyone to see his gums, his teeth. They seemed too private."

ETA: The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

Yeah, this is pretty nice. BUT...

Just you wait until someone posts a passage with filtering in it here, you evil one.

The Lonely One · Jul 20, 2009

I've always felt Toni Morrison had a very, very strong grasp on tight, powerful language. Word choice is a strength of hers, I believe. I can't think of a quote off-hand but Beloved is filled with insight that is made twice as powerful by language.

vox · Jul 20, 2009

maestrowork said:
Here's from my WIP:

I read the works of vox and was inspired and crushed in the same moment. His writing was beyond great. How could I even think about calling myself a writer?

_

Fixed it for ya, Maestro.

Seriously, your original was one funny post. I laughed out loud when I saw it.

lm728 · Jul 20, 2009

"The wind sound huffed once, and then the moist thud jolted us, the sound of a watermelon breaking open, and for that moment everyone remained still..."

--The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

(This is actually describing a Lisbon sister jumping from a window, the air buffeting her fall, and then the sound of her getting impaled on a metal fence spike. Gross, but captivating.)

MsGneiss · Jul 20, 2009

"Gods die. And when they truly die they are unmourned and unremembered. Ideas are more difficult to kill than people, but they can be killed, in the end."
- Gaiman, American Gods

MsGneiss · Jul 20, 2009

"Billy coughed when the door was opened, and when he coughed he shit thin gruel. This was in accordance with the Third Law of Motion according to Sir Isaac Newton. This law tells us that for each reaction there is a reaction which is equal and opposite in direction. This can be useful in rocketry."
- Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

MsGneiss · Jul 20, 2009

"I get the willies when I see closed doors. Even at work, where I am doing so well now, the sight of a closed door is sometimes enough to make me dread that something horrible is happening behind it, something that is going to affect me adversely; if I am tired and dejected from a night of lies or booze or sex or just nerves and insomnia, I can almost smell the disaster mounting invisibly and flooding out toward me through the frosted glass panes. My hands may perspire, and my voice may come out strange. I wonder why.
Something must have happened to me sometime. "
- Heller, Something Happened

MsGneiss · Jul 20, 2009

I can keep this up almost indefinitely. Y'all are lucky I have to sign off and go home now.

backslashbaby · Jul 20, 2009

Beloved and Gaiman, oh my! I definitely love their prose.

Phaeal, Filterers must die!!! Muahahaha. I'm a closet filterer, though; tis true.

backslashbaby · Jul 20, 2009

My edit button isn't working, but I do know that Beloved is not a real person

katiemac · Jul 20, 2009

I posted these in "Makes Me Wonder" but I'll go ahead and do it again here:

In her opinion, the whole country was like a chest of drawers that had been pulled out and dumped onto the floor.

From Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True. I tend to go for the short, simple descriptive phrases.

I'm also rather fond of these lines in Their Eyes Were Watching God:

Janie stood where he left her for unmeasured time and thought. She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her.

Cranky · Jul 20, 2009

From The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak:

As the crowd arrived in full, things, of course, had changed. The horizon was beginning to charcoal. What was left of the blackness above was nothing now but a scribble, and disappearing fast.

The man, in comparison, was the color of bone. Skeleton-colored skin. A ruffled uniform. His eyes were cold and brown - like coffee stains- and the last scrawl from above formed what, to me, appeared an odd, yet familiar shape. A signature.

john barnes on toast · Jul 20, 2009

dangerous ground this, and not purely because the matter is so subjective.

the real problem is context. The lines or passages that lend themselves to being quotable are often the ones that are trying the hardest, and often when viewed in isolation they look over the top.

That Neil Gaiman line for example. He's someone I've never read, and though he is clearly revered by many people, that line quoted above walks a tightrope for me. It may be great when viewed in context, but on its own it could easily be dismissed as portentous wuffle.

Kurtz · Jul 20, 2009

For that (the rapt one warns) is what papyr is meed of, made of, hides and hints and misses in prints. Till ye finally (though not yet endlike) meet with the acquaintance of Mister Typus, Mistress Tope and all the little typtopies. Filstup. So you need hardly spell me how every word will be bound over to carry three score and ten toptypsical readings throughout the book of Doublends Jined (may his forehead be darkened with mud who would sunder!) till Daleth, mahomahouma, who oped it closeth thereof the. Dor.

justwondering · Jul 20, 2009

backslashbaby said:
Here's one:

"Thus Jemubhai's mind had begun to warp; he grew stranger to himself than he was to those around him, found his own skin odd-colored, his own accent peculiar. He forgot how to laugh, could barely manage to lift his lips in a smile, and if he ever did, he held his hand over his mouth, because he couldn't bear anyone to see his gums, his teeth. They seemed too private."

ETA: The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

Excellent choice but I agree with John Barnes on Toast's point re context - without context this passage is incomprehensible, as have been some of those in the 'makes we wonder' thread.

I would suggest contributors add a sentence stating context so that we can all appreciate the passage.

backslashbaby · Jul 20, 2009

justwondering said:
Excellent choice but I agree with John Barnes on Toast's point re context - without context this passage is incomprehensible, as have been some of those in the 'makes we wonder' thread.

I would suggest contributors add a sentence stating context so that we can all appreciate the passage.

Sorry!

I don't want to give away the 'whys' as a spoiler. This is one of my biggest problems in writing, too. My betas have to tell me if I'm being too obscure for their taste.

I agree with JB on Toast completely. I can get used to an author's voice and love 'over the top' in context. I think it works in the other direction, too. A 'meh' sentence [that some would like to spice up] can work perfectly in context, too.

MsGneiss · Jul 20, 2009

john barnes on toast said:
dangerous ground this, and not purely because the matter is so subjective.

the real problem is context. The lines or passages that lend themselves to being quotable are often the ones that are trying the hardest, and often when viewed in isolation they look over the top.

That Neil Gaiman line for example. He's someone I've never read, and though he is clearly revered by many people, that line quoted above walks a tightrope for me. It may be great when viewed in context, but on its own it could easily be dismissed as portentous wuffle.

Which begs the question - does good prose need to retain it's amazing qualities even when viewed out of context. I don't know. Maybe.

On an unrelated note, I'm perpetually amazed by how many English people are oblivious to Gaiman. He is so revered here in America, even by folks who otherwise have no interest in genre fiction.

backslashbaby · Jul 20, 2009

Which begs the question - does good prose need to retain it's amazing qualities even when viewed out of context. I don't know. Maybe.

Oh, I hope not. Have you ever eaten real Italian putanesca? Most people love it, and then they learn that it has anchovies in it. You don't have to like anchovies to love putanesca. Really

MsGneiss · Jul 20, 2009

Ok, so. Context. Right. I think that Douglas Adams transcends context. Yes, indeed, every other sentence is a quotable nugget of goodness. But it's also wonderful prose.

From Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency:
"If the Universe came to an end every time there was some uncertainty about what had happened in it, it would never have got beyond the first picosecond. And many of course don’t. It’s like a human body, you see. A few cuts and bruises here and there don’t hurt it. Not even major surgery if it’s done properly. Paradoxes are just the scar tissue. Time and space heal themselves up around them and people simply remember a version of events which makes as much sense as they require it to make."

For The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul:
"It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on Earth has ever produced the phrase, 'as pretty as an airport.' Airports are ugly. Some are very ugly. Some attain a degree of ugliness that can only be the result of a special effort."

From various parts of THHGTG:
"He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife."

And:
"What to do if you find yourself stuck with no hope of rescue: Consider yourself lucky that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far, which given your present circumstances seems more likely, consider yourself lucky that it won't be troubling you much longer."

Quote some good prose here :)

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Mark Brockman

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Fear the Death Ray

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Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

i'm baaaacccckkkkkk

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Five by Five

Fix up, look sharp.

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