Apparently, a confusion of guinea fowl is another of those funny animal group names like a murder of crows or a smack of jellyfish. I discovered that and this painting, also named Confusion, by high school student Kara from Allentown, New Jersey. I thought it captured wonderfully the problems of focus and concentration amidst nature's splendors that several of us have been discussing lately.
I hate not having the right words. Currently, I feel like I'm moving the troops across the map, storywise, but without the style or charm I know my tone needs. Worse, as I try to fix the flatness, all the words I reach for seem worn-out and dull. In response, I'm filling my eyes with words that I don't habitually use, trying to liven up the joint, but I'm so dead bored with my own description, and the writers I'm reading all seem to make better choices than I ever could. Kara, I feel ya, girlfriend.
Still, as much as we battle repetition and cliches in our fiction, apparently it's as big an issue in book reviews. The NYT Book Review blog identifies their overused seven review deadlies: poignant, compelling, intriguing, eschew, craft, muse, and lyrical.
Mario Puzo’s intriguing novel eschews the lyrical as the author instead crafts a poignant tale of family life and muses on the compelling doings of the Mob.
Read their arguments and the comments section with lots more candidates. Truly, my misery's enjoying the company.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
A Confusion of Birds and Words
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6 comments:
Oh, do I relate. I just have to tell myself that keeping everyone moving has a place, too, and that the time for crafting beautiful prose will come when I've pushed everyone over their figurative and literal cliffs.
Framing and drywall first, then wallpaper and curtains. Did you purposely use the verb "crafting", you sly minx?
I have to start by saying that Kara is a wonderful artitst. I wish her many creative years
Next I say: Yes!! Yes!! It is hard to find the right word and it is frustrating, but when you find that word it is so sweet.
And I, too, must give Laura a "Hear! Hear!" on the use of the word crafting.
From the Times article: “The best critics,” Follett writes, “are those who use the plainest words and who make their taste rational by describing actions rather than by reporting or imputing feelings.”
Can't the same be said of the best writers?
Terrie
I do completely agree in theory, Terrie, and Follett knows if anyone does!
But recently, I guess I'm feeling in myself-- and reading in other blog comments -- a backlash from the bare bones writing that can feel a little go-go-go without sharing a unique view into anything. I think the embellishing words should be careful enough that you only need the right few (there's the agony!), but lately I'm enjoying reading stuff with a few curlicues. Not bloated writing, but unafraid to be a little more decorative and evocative. Real cream in the coffee, not skim.
What about you?
You need to be careful with the curlicues, however. When they pull the reader out of the story, that's not good. Think of the word "said." So many people stress over what to use instead of it, but the beauty of "said" is that it's invisible; the reader can focus on the dialogue rather than on the said-substitute.
At the same time, I understand your dilemma. I, too, feel my writing doesn't measure up, that it's too simplistic, not beautiful enough, not descriptive enough, causes too much head scratching and gagging. I've read your writing, though, and it's good. I say this wearing all my hats--friend, co-blogger, writer, and editor. Stop second-guessing yourself.
Elaine- Thanks for the good words.
In editing, I tend toward simplifying and compacting, so I have a real tendency to undertell (as my critique groups note) than to overtell. And I'm a huge fan of "said"!
My feelings as I'm trying to find the sweet spot with my own work is expressed well in an article that I posted on my old blog. B.R. Myers' A Reader's Manifesto from the Atlantic takes no prisoners among well-loved writers, but it hit home for me.
[About 'evocative' prose]:"It has become fashionable, especially among female novelists, to exploit the license of poetry while claiming exemption from poetry's rigorous standards of precision and polish...The masculine counterpart to the ladies' prose poetry is a bold, Melvillean stiltedness, better known to readers of book reviews as "muscular" prose." Other writing, Myers identifies as "full of brand names and wardrobe inventories, that critics like to praise as an 'edgy' take on the insanity of modern American life."
In going through many examples of imprecise description, alternately too terse or wordy, Myers identifies my ideal: "figurative language...[that] is fresh and vivid without seeming to strain for originality." Piece of cake, right?
The whole article is here:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200107/myers
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