Building Blocks and Stumbling Blocks.

The Writing Process

Newsletters 17 & 18

(NB.Two in one week as I am off to write and draw in France   for three weeks).

Building Block or Stumbling Block?

Despite my enthusiasm last week about good syntax I do realise that an over-awareness of the significance of syntax can be a stumbling block. This happens when you - the newish writer -  perhaps because of an officious schoolteacher  school or a clumsy and thoughtless editor – become frozen, like a rabbit in headlights, at the embarrassment of being seen as stupid when at first you don’t quite get the difference – for instance -  between verbal storytelling and storytelling on the page.

          There were times when editors would work with very promising writers who were not quite there in terms of their syntactical skills. But nowadays they are very busy – even exhausted - with their corporate strategies and business models.

            So you have to do so much more of it yourself!

           The point is, you shouldn’t let this part of writing your story be a stumbling block for you. If you edit yourself with a more certain knowledge of syntax, the manuscript you present to others for appraisal or publication will not have laughable flaws that could blind the readers to a wonderful story.

            This process of ultimate self-editing is even more crucial in these days of indie publishing and eBooking. One of the biggest criticisms of the contemporary flood of self-published eBooks is the variable standard of editing without the filter of a tribe of publisher’s editors to catch the flaws.

          You should realise that, while attending closely to your own syntax can be intricate, in the end it is relatively easy and - dare I say it? -  it is fun. Every writer should be the master of his or her own language. Grammar stands there alongside originality, vision, vocabulary, narrative skill as a crucial tool for the successful writer, whatever their approach to publishing.

Focusing on Valuable Building Blocks

The first crucial building block for a you as a writer is your ability to create a world, to build a narrative, to have an extensive vocabulary (all that reading!) and a mind that sees the world afresh –dreaming dreams and having visions.

           A second building block consists of your innate sense of story imbued with the magic of your own unique sense of language so that you become comfortable when you get to the stage of completing your initial charge of pure creative writing and reach the point when you start editing your own work. Here, as I have been saying I reckon there is value in seeing your own prose more objectively in terms of your unique use of grammar and syntax

        Once you begin to know just how the rules of syntax work then you can choose, if you want, to break them. But that will then be a knowing process.  You will know what you are doing.

        And, as you clarify and edit your own prose, as a natural writer and a good storyteller you can comfort yourself in knowing that there are some individuals out there who know syntax up to their eyeballs but could never pen an original, good story in a hundred years.

Let’s have a quick look at some basics to start out on this process.

In my workshops, when they begin to trust that I won’t laugh at their innocence, some new writers will ask crucial questions what seem to be the arcane mysteries of  grammar and syntax and these questions are the key to their further writing development.

Among these questions will be:

1.     Just what is that makes a proper sentence a sentence?

2.     What is it that constitutes a paragraph?

3.     What’s the difference between dialogue told and dialogue said?

For the Record:  A Simple Definition:  A sentence expresses a complete thought and must contain at least a subject (a noun) and (a verb).  A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark.

Click HERE for a good place to explore further the grammatical nature of sentences, paragraphs and dialogue

A Quick Thought about Paragraphs

The rules on paragraphing can be ambiguous. I suggest that a paragraph is a whole idea, a piece of speech or an aspect of the whole setting, building up the climax of the narrative within the chapter or the short story. It promotes the transparency of the narrative. It does not get between the reader and the narrative.

        Look at the paragraphing   on any page. Notice that white space on the page promotes space and clarity; it allows the reader to breathe his own way into your narrative.

Top tip. When the idea, the speaker, the setting changes, embark on a new paragraph.

Ursula le Guin on The Significance of Sentences

The other day I was reading again

Click Ursula 

Ursula le Guin’s seminal ‘Steering the Craft’. I was excited again when I came across her chapter Sentence Length and Complex Syntax.

In this chapter, among other wise advice, Le Guin comments: 

The basic function of the narrative sentence is to keep the story going and keep the reader going with it.

And

But for the most part, prose states its proper beauty and power deeper, hiding it in the work as a whole.

         It is a creative writing truism that modern prose tends towards the greater use of shorter, more journalistic sentences to roll a story on faster, in the manner of a film, flashing from scene to scene. This could be how your ‘hear’ your story as you are writing it. It will have an effect on your writing style. It’s useful to be conscious of this as you are editing your own work.

         However in her compelling chapter Le Guin recommends a combination of short and long sentences for the most successful prose:

‘To avoid long sentences and the marvellously supple connections of complex syntax it to deprive your prose of an essential quality. Commenctedness is what keeps a narrative going.’

         In the chapter she quotes examples from a wide field of writers who use the balance of long and short sentences:  Jane Austen; Harriet Beecher Stowe; Mark Twin; Virginia Woolf

Best Advice

It’s not a bad idea to read two pages of their work and note what how grammar and syntax works in the case of these great writers – and of any great modern writers whom you admire.

       For me, page-long paragraphs – acceptable in nineteenth century and early twentieth century novels - will give a modern novel a dated feel. Language and grammar are dynamic forces in prose; they change through time. They evolve.

            One evolution is the way some writers may have a very clean and naturalistic almost film script way to present dialogue which can make. This can make some purists tut-tut.  Modern writers are making their own choices. So now you as a writer can break the rules in this evolving form, as you look for the best way to engage your readers, make them commit to your narrative.

As always my very best advice is to read more, and more regularly - both classic modern well-written novels. With your writer’s cloak on you can look at how sentences, paragraphs and dialogue presents themselves on the pages of modern novels and short stories.

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Newsletter 18

Why does Syntax become a Stumbling Block?

This happens when you – perhaps from school or a clumsy and thoughtless editor – become frozen like a rabbit in headlights at the embarrassment of being seen as stupid when you don’t quite get the difference between verbal storytelling and storytelling on the page.

           At one time editors would work with very promising writers who were not quite there. But nowadays they are very busy, exhausted with their corporate strategies and business models, so you have to do it yourself,

          So don’t let syntax be a stumbling block. If you edit yourself with a clear knowledge of syntax the manuscript you present will not have laughable flaws that could blind the readers to a wonderful story.

This assiduous process of ultimate self-editing is even more crucial in these days of indie publishing and eBooking. One of the biggest criticisms of the flood of self-published eBooks is the variable standard of editing without the filter of a publisher’s editor to catch the flaws. I know this as it has happened to me.

       In any case, while syntax is intricate, it is relatively easy and - dare I say it? -  it is fun. Every writer should be the master of his or her own language. Grammar stands there alongside originality, vision, vocabulary, narrative skill as a crucial tool for the successful writer, whatever their approach to publishing.

Great Syntax at work

Ursula Le Guin also showcases the work of  

the immaculate Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby

‘Fitzgerald shows great skill in character and plot development by employing surging breathless ragged, choppy sentences…’

“We went upstairs, through period bedrooms swathed in rose and lavender silk and vivid with new flowers, through dressing rooms and poolrooms and bathrooms, with sunken baths…”

“They were gone, without a word, snapped out, made accidental, isolated, like ghosts, even from our pity”  

‘This was untrue. I am not even faintly like a rose. She was only extemporizing, but a stirring warmth flowed from her, as if her heart was trying to come out to you concealed in one of those breathless, thrilling words. Then suddenly she threw her napkin on the table and excused herself and went into the house.’

Look at these Fitzgerald examples and turn to a few pages of your own manuscript. You will probably see some good, effective sentences and paragraphs there and say to yourself ‘well done!’ 

If not - being the all-powerful writer – you can get to work and make some.

Happy writing, happy editing

Wendy