C. J. Cherryh on “writerisms” to watch out for
Originally spotted at Augie’s blaugie: Novelist C. J. Cherryh on what not to do as a writer.
Fairly technical, but a highlight:
florid verbs. “The car grumbled its way to the curb” is on the verge of being so colorful it’s distracting. {Florid fr. Lat. floreo, to flower.}
If a manuscript looks as if it’s sprouted leaves and branches, if every verb is “unusual,” if the vocabulary is more interesting than the story … fix it by going to more ordinary verbs. There are vocabulary-addicts who will praise your prose for this but not many who can simultaneously admire your verbs as verbs and follow your story, especially if it has content. The car is not a main actor and not one you necessarily need to make into a character. If its action should be more ordinary and transparent, don’t use an odd expression. This is prose.
This statement also goes for unusual descriptions and odd adjectives, nouns, and adverbs.
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Amen.
Comment by Houston — December 24, 2005 @ 14:56