JDC Art of Writing: The strategy of using expressive rhetoric becomes the dance partner with the language in sentences for emotional effectiveness and hopefully a professional touch of elegance adjusted to any genre.
Why is the reader captivated by some writing and unmoved by others? It is the way a sentence is put together arousing the sensibilities, where one is stimulated by the writer's selection of phrases, capable of conjuring a picture in ones mind, so as to be in the midst of the action accepting it or rejecting it, or yearning for more.
Just sentences? No. One has to do something with them for a particular purpose and effect. Professor Brooks Landon, who served as chair of the Iowa English Department from 1999-2005, notes in his writing: Building Great Sentences, ". . . sentences work like verbs, doing things, taking action, rather than like nouns that only name." In other words, show through syntax (the way one styles a sentence); just don't tell or relate words. . .draw the reader in.
There are simple sentences of clarity with clean structure omitting the superfluous, and there are suspenseful elaborate masters in excess of 100 words minus the death-knoll of repetition.
Elegance in writing is a matter of personal taste, efficiency and training; conveying meaning clearly; teasing at every turn of the page; establishing a connection with the reader, who wishes to be satisfied.
With each selected word the writer uses it changes the content through his or her adapted style garnishing a sentence so it delivers the goods for an exciting elegant flow and a reaction from the reader.
Note: Which sentence would keep you reading?
1. O.K. - Maggie bolted through the screen door eager to get out; oblivious of the red fox planted on the front lawn.
2. Better - With three missing glass louvers, Maggie bolted against the black screen door as if she were shot out-of-a-cannon, something she hadn't done before, oblivious of the danger of sharp metal edges on the exterior, and the visitor planted on the front lawn, a handsome red fox, who know doubt would enjoy a five pound lunch.
Number One: This sentence is grammatically clean with clarity, avoids needless words, but isn't one of high impact - it doesn't go anywhere. It lacks the power to push a reader on to perhaps the next paragraph and a specific goal any writer may wish to impart, possibly leading to an unsatisfactory reading experience.
Here there is content that can be easily developed into a strong voice-style (the way a writer puts his thoughts and information down for a specific result).
Depending on a particular use and need, this sentence will work. Yet many writers have found the magic in writing and the fun is the attention-getter, a longer, tightly controlled piece of effective writing, especially desirable in business sales.
Number Two: Here there is content, information, style and there is a suspenseful and unexpected outcome.
The difference between one and two, is how the writer presents and unfolds ideas by pacing, adding not just the grammar, but the rhetoric of careful embellishment with several turns in phrasing. Dense emotional energy grows, flowing as if in motion to the most important end (the goal), bringing the writer and the reader to one mind.
Professor Landon challenges the writer to change the taught collegiate manner of writing, as reflected in William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White's writing guide, The Elements of Style, not to eliminate its wisdom, but to approach the use of "style" as a "garnish for the meat of prose."
Sentences shouldn't come across as just words, for words in themselves are dead! The madness of the contender who writes is to choose the strategy which channels from the mind to the fingers clicking across the keyboard to shape ideas; understood, both for its content of information and a sentence style in voice equally as important. . .intriguing, entertaining and persuading.
"Whether short or long . . .this is what I mean when I call myself a writer," writes novelist Don DeLillo, "I construct sentences."
So what might be the magic in the writing craft of success? Consider one of the biggies, more control over the value of extraordinary density in phraseology while always paying attention to the effect of delivery; tweaking until you believe each paragraph is simmering, even pulsating beckoning the reader to continue on.
According to one psychologist, people want to be sold. Use the creative writing process to give them the pleasure they seek or one that allows them to justify a reason for taking a specific risk or action.
Reading Material:
Strunk Jr., William, and E.B. White The Elements of Style. 4th ed., with a forward by Roger Angell, New York: Longman, 2000 - Still used in the collegiate field; still indispensable
Trimble, John R. Writing With Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1975 - A good read for one serious about their writing
Zinsser, William. On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing New York: Harper & Row 1976 - Solid, good advice, no frills. Used in Creative Writing Accredited Courses
Style: An Anti-Textbook, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974. This is author Richard A. Lanham's argument that the stress on clarity in American writing instruction has largely worked to banish pleasure from writing.
Don DeLillo: Noted American novelist whose 15 books include White Noise, and Underworld
References provided by Professor Brooks Landon, The University of Iowa: Building Great Sentences: Exploring the Writer's Craft 2008, and The Teaching Company - Chantilly, Va
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