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Read Lovecraft. It's only short stories, and yet it will instantly improve your prose.
Perhaps you yourself should do just that.
Read Lovecraft. It's only short stories, and yet it will instantly improve your prose.
How important are "pretty prose" for first-time authors wanting to submit to agents? Obviously, I know the novel needs to be grammatically correct and I need to fix as many of these "tell-y" instances as possible, but if there are some paragraphs that I'm struggling to re-word, will it make or break a submission? I feel like the story itself is what makes a good novel and that it's the editors job to help make the words read well, but I know authors have a responsibility to have a good understanding of how to do this, too.
1. Story trumps everything.
A story is told in the telling. A heck of a story incorporates excellent telling. Which comes before "pretty prose" - whatever "pretty" means.Well, how do you define story? I mean, everyone has a cool story to tell, don't they? It's about engaging the reader and pulling them into your story, no? It seems like it would have to be one heck of a never-told-before story to overcome not being written well.
A story is told in the telling. A heck of a story incorporates excellent telling. Which comes before "pretty prose" - whatever "pretty" means.
Yeah, but I think AW Admin was making that very point. Story isn't just plot, and writing includes revising and reading is good. And if "pretty prose" means good, considered wordage, then pretty prose is also important.Okay, that's what I was getting at. We're distinguishing the telling of the story vs. "pretty prose" as potentially different things, which makes sense to me.
Authors who have great prose are usually good at the other bits of writing too. Maybe not great, maybe not as good as the Dan Browns of this world,
It seems like it would have to be one heck of a never-told-before story to overcome not being written well.
I'm in the same situation as OP. What I'm trying for is "transparent prose", something the reader never notices. I don't want to use rare words that will make them get their dictionaries out, or phrase sentences in a unusual way that will make readers read the sentence twice.
That said, you have to use more than simple sentences. If you use only simple sentences, it will make your writing seem robotic, like if someone speaking in a monotone voice, so you have to vary your sentence structure up. Most of your sentences will be simple but you'll need to add compound, complex, etc, sentences. And do all of this while maintaining your goal transparent prose.
Once you're able to do that, you can strive for "beautiful prose", writing that readers will recognize as beautiful. This, while still practicing your "transparent prose".
At least that's how I see things now. And I write genre fiction where I think readers mostly want genre fiction for the story and not my fancy writing shenanigans.
The late Elmore Leonard was a genius at this. He said he got the style from trying to copy Hemingway. For me, Elmore Leonard books are a pleasure to read, because you're getting pure story.
Side point; I enjoy Lovecraft a lot but I find his prose waffly, vague, and overwrought in places. I read him for his ideas mostly. I appreciate this is subjective.
No, not at all. "Written well" is somewhat subjective, but only somewhat. People do not rave about the prose or style of Nora Roberts | J. D. Robb; she writes well, yes, and she totally gets story, but her prose is really just there to tell the story. Most reader's read Roberts to find out "what happens next."
On the other extreme, people rarely read Joyce's Ulysses out of a desire to find out "what happens next"; but readers do love how Joyce writes. There's not a whole lot of narrative lust driving Ulysses; it's one day in the life of a fairly ordinary man.
Look at a few paragraphs of books from ten or so writers. Their prose is different from each other; some is workmanlike; it gets the job done. Some perfectly captures the voice of a character(s). Some make you stop and re-read just because of the melody.
I'm so glad that you mentioned transparent prose! I remember one of the Writing Excuses episodes where Brandon Sanderson talks about his prose being transparent. I just finished reading the 2nd Mistborn novel, and I can definitely see what he means by it. He doesn't use the fanciest of words to convey something, and he doesn't shy away from repeated phrases (One page had "He smiled" repeated on it three times.)Yet, he still manages to write really compelling stories.[…] And I guess if Sanderson can be as successful as he is at it, then I shouldn't worry so much!
I think we all have different thresholds.
It seems to me that several responders are saying much the same thing: any text which calls attention to itself tends to hurt our readers immersion in the story, hurts their ability to experience the story as if they are there in the setting along with the characters. It focuses their attention on the words and how they are put together in sentences, paragraphs, scenes.
And no, these readers who considered well-crafted sophisticated prose style important are not all confined to the "literary" ghetto. Many of them are dedicated genre readers as well.
This kind of textual transparency is a common goal for writers today. But it's a mistake to assume it's something that appeals to all readers. There are many readers out there -- readers who may be your audience -- who actively dislike "transparent prose" for its blandness, its tendency to lean on clichés, stock phrases, and other forms of verbal shorthand, and for its lack of attention to the details of diction, rhythm, and nuance. For them, this kind of prose does not get out of the way but does in fact call attention to its own clumsiness and creates an obstacle to their engaging with the story and the characters. For these readers "pretty prose" is not an extra frill added to dress up the story, it's an essential part of the writer's craft and the fiction experience.
And no, these readers who considered well-crafted sophisticated prose style important are not all confined to the "literary" ghetto. Many of them are dedicated genre readers as well.
Yes, this. I would think it applies across categories.I think we also need to consider how the style of the prose supports the story. Character-driven stories are often (not always) more literary in style and require prose that has a more melodic tone. Whereas plot-driven novels often (not always) require a more straight-forward style that gets the story on the page without the words getting in the way.
These styles are fluid and cross-pollinate, because there are as many ways to tell a story as there are stories to tell. But most (not all) successful novels rely on the prose being written well, regardless of style, if that makes sense. As a writer, we need to know our craft and pay attention to the words, sentences, paragraphs, and so on. At the editing and final draft stage, none of it should be accidental.