This is such a great essay, one of the best i've seen on wordcraft and rhythm. I really like the comment on feel and reason in making these decisions.
A writer has to make so many choices. Every word, every phrase, every sentence. It must be by turns funny and frustrating how few readers notice the words, but whether they notice consciously or not, all the careful engineering that's gone into the prose is still working its magic.
Thank you for this. I've always made decisions about sentences based on the rhythm created by words, and moved the words around (see! moved around the words...) accordingly. Some phrasing just sounds wrong!
Yes, I think most of us do most of this kind of thing intuitive, trying stuff out and clocking "wrong" or "nearly right" or "right" or "...Yes! Got it!" without the need to pull the reasons for each up to the surface. Some writers can't or won't analyse further than that, which of course is fine while their writing instincts are serving their projects as well as they want them to.
But one of the reasons for getting conscious of the "why this works?" , is so that they have tools deal with a "wrong" when they don't just "know" what's better - or when the projects they want to try ask things of them they've never done before.
It's like e.g. tennis players: they get better by doing a hundred serves, but they also wire themselves up for their serve to be analysed, and to see how, say, the foot-placement or the ball-toss makes a difference.
This is such a great essay, one of the best i've seen on wordcraft and rhythm. I really like the comment on feel and reason in making these decisions.
A writer has to make so many choices. Every word, every phrase, every sentence. It must be by turns funny and frustrating how few readers notice the words, but whether they notice consciously or not, all the careful engineering that's gone into the prose is still working its magic.
That's the thing, isn't it - that readers don't have to be aware of what you're doing with the words, for the words to have an effect on them. There's an Itch post from years ago, precisely about this: https://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2012/06/real-readers-wont-notice.html
Thank you for this. I've always made decisions about sentences based on the rhythm created by words, and moved the words around (see! moved around the words...) accordingly. Some phrasing just sounds wrong!
Yes, I think most of us do most of this kind of thing intuitive, trying stuff out and clocking "wrong" or "nearly right" or "right" or "...Yes! Got it!" without the need to pull the reasons for each up to the surface. Some writers can't or won't analyse further than that, which of course is fine while their writing instincts are serving their projects as well as they want them to.
But one of the reasons for getting conscious of the "why this works?" , is so that they have tools deal with a "wrong" when they don't just "know" what's better - or when the projects they want to try ask things of them they've never done before.
It's like e.g. tennis players: they get better by doing a hundred serves, but they also wire themselves up for their serve to be analysed, and to see how, say, the foot-placement or the ball-toss makes a difference.