I don't know what to say! If my prose is so "bad", then I'm never going to win the Man Booker prize once, never mind twice! I may as well throw my pencil and scrap of dog-eared paper in the corner and take up the ukulele. Although, my music abilities are probably as bad as my prose! Not only that, but there's a list on Goodreads of people who write good prose, such as: Vladimir Nabokov Michael Ondaatje F Scott Fitzgerald George Orwell JD Salinger Albert Camus Oscar Wilde JRR Tolkien James Joyce Franza Kafka John Steinbeck Ray Bradbury To name but a few. I did notice, however, that my name was not on the list, which appears to support the contention that my prose is "bad". So, it must be true that I write "bad prose"! I have a miserable face now. Tears are sloshing in rivers through the living room (I haven't got a library unfortunately). And then, a light bulb came on in my head. Don't ask me how it got there, or who switched it on, but it flickered into life like Frankenstein's monster. What if, there were degrees of prose from bad (1) to good (10)? Where would I fit on the scale? Closer to 1? Or, nudging Hilary Mantel? Well, we know that Hilary Mantel is a "10", don't we? . . . In fact, wasn't Bo Derek a "10" as well? Oh no! I'm thinking of something else - stifles mischievous grin.
Here's a blog entitled: "What makes good or bad prose?" by Marian Halcombe, and she makes some valid points. First, prose is subjective. One person's brilliant prose is another person's boring drivel, and I refer you to James Joyce on the above list as testament to that. Many people think his prose is unreadable. Also, it's interesting to note that Hilary Mantel has a number of 1 and 2 star reviews of her brilliant prose, so it's obviously not to everyone's liking. Marian (if I can be so bold?) identifies three qualities of good prose: Readability, vivid language, and distinctive voices for characters. Interesting! Some might very well agree or disagree with her. I would say that a hundred words in a stream-of-consciousness block of text over a page and a half puts me off reading a book. As such, I tend to write what I like to read. But then, don't most writers? Another point worth making is that a number of those writers on the list write literary fiction. I write crime - police procedurals. That's not to say that I don't aspire to write half-decent prose, but I doubt emulating Hilary Mantel's prose would improve my sales! Any thoughts?
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AuthorHi, I'm Tim Ellis - I write a lot and I hope you enjoy what I write. Archives
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