Thread: Learning From The Best

I enjoy reading prominent writers to see what they did, where they went right if in fact they did go right. I'm curious what kind of lessons you guys have learned through observation, little tricks you've seen writers do in difficult situations, ways of putting dialogue or creative uses of grammar. I've ran into a few recently that I thought I'd share.

In the Harry Potters, my favourite books growing up, J.K. Rowling does some nifty things. For instance, where it's appropriate, she'll use commas where you'd typically use semi-colons, and semi-colons where you'd typically use commas. The flow, pace, or speed of the sentence seems to determine this. She'll use semi-colons as a strong pause between clauses that are not independent, and commas where the clauses are very independent, but where the flow is so fast anything stronger than a comma would be halting. Such as, "Harry, I told you we couldn't go there, Snape was watching!" (made that up)

A thing I see Stephen King (and many writers) do is put filler action into and amidst dialogue to space it out the way it would sound as if someone was actually saying it. The action doesn't even have to make sense. For instance (made this up),

"And I," she said, plucking her eyebrows, "gained the upper hand."

If the action was going to be said anyway, before or after the dialogue, may as well use it as a spacer and kill two birds with one stone.

The filler action thing you referenced is something I do as well in some of my writings. It creates some sort of reality, and it caters to all the reader's senses, if you will.

I also learned a thing or two from reading such esteemed writers. Sometimes, I find myself needing a cliffhanger from one chapter to the next. When running out of options, I consider Dan Brown's take of things. He suddenly stops whatever the characters were doing, and then he inserts the phrase "... and then it hit him like a freight train."

Of course, to pull that stunt off, you must know what'll happen on the next chapter, and while that's not something new to us, Deaver taught me through his writing style, that psychology is important. The way he portrays his criminals, his protagonists, his supporting cast, you know he wrote them in-character. And this enables him to create such a foreshadowing that'll be helpful as far as ten chapters away.

While I don't read a lot of novels and don't know a lot of authors except for the most popular and well-known ones, I've learned how to incorporate dry humor into my writing. When things are not meant to be funny, they always seem more funny. I've always liked phrases like..."I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted paychecks." I've used little phrases like these in my stories. I know that sometimes what makes me laugh as the author will not necessarily make the reader laugh. But they seem to be able to relate to everyone, not just educated readers.

Originally Posted by caelum

I enjoy reading prominent writers to see what they did, where they went right if in fact they did go right. I'm curious what kind of lessons you guys have learned through observation, little tricks you've seen writers do in difficult situations, ways of putting dialogue or creative uses of grammar. I've ran into a few recently that I thought I'd share.

Remind me to go elsewhere to learn my verb tenses.

I think I might have learnt about rhythm from Hemingway. It might come from his use of and as a conjunction when I would expect to see a comma, or a comma followed by and. Whatever it is, I fell in love with his sentence structure and the sense of rhythm he purveys.

Don't have anything to contribute right now. I'll just sit back and 'learn from the best'.

Originally Posted by Bilston Blue

I think I might have learnt about rhythm from Hemingway. It might come from his use of and as a conjunction when I would expect to see a comma, or a comma followed by and. Whatever it is, I fell in love with his sentence structure and the sense of rhythm he purveys.

Exactly. And the rhythm that comes from just the right mix of sentences length. A long sentence followed by a short one or a fragment, where the short sentence serves as a sort of punctuation in itself or startling summation of what came before.

While reading Fitzgerald, I first noticed the magical, all-purpose em dash. There are no real "rules" attached to it. You can just use it based on whether or not is "sounds" good. It's a great way to emphasize a phrase or thought without interrupting the flow of something. I also use them in dialog to simulate natural pauses.

Raymond Carver inspired me to leave things out or hint at things and allow the reader to wonder and fill in the blanks -- to take the risk that you might frustrate some readers or have them feel that things aren't resolved. It can be polarizing -- some people like that feeling, others don't.

Other ways I'm inspired are harder to define. Some of its just has to do with the beauty of the writing -- Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Cheever, O'Conner -- all my favorites -- can put words together in a ways that are unmatched by most popular novelists today. I'm spoiled -- and have a hard time reading a lot of them, and get tripped up on the pedestrian use of the language -- even if the stories are decent. That's why when when I'm struggling with my writing, I go back and reread my favorites. I keep them on hand and will read a page or two for a quick injection of inspiration.