On Style
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
I am thinking today about style—about what makes a book brilliant, a story stand apart.
I am thinking about The Book Thief and The Road Home and Out Stealing Horses—three books that could not be more different from each other and yet all earn "brilliant" as the first accolade, all are manifestly genius. I am thinking about a conversation I had late last night with a young writer who is so talented, so emergent, so on the precipice. Who asks, Is writing worth it?
I decide this today:
Style is tenacity, authority, authenticity. An idea shaped and held to by words. Style is a writer writing toward the true, shafting the superfluous, wading in deep to places others won't go. Style is not blinking until the work is done.
Style is surviving the journey.
6 comments:
And here I thought you were going to blog about hair color and nails.
I love the addition of style to the normal "voice".
I look at the adjectives you use and think, "I want to be this person!
And that's something to strive toward.
Great!
This is just what I needed this morning, Beth. I often turn to your writing when I feel frustrated. You remind me that I can't give up.
I was thinking of you this morning because I'm preparing my packet for my fall Mother Words class and I'd like to use an excerpt from *A Slant of Sun*.
You know what book your pondering of style reminds me of? The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. If you haven't read it, you really, really should.
Ah, the embrace of friends.
So needed after a long work day (and a few literary disappointments).
Jena, I love The Things They Carried. You remind me to read it again. PJ, I know nothing about hair, can you not tell? Nor nails. But you wouldn't be able to tell that.
Kate: Absolutely.
Thank you, Beth. I actually have my course packets made at a place that takes care of all the copyright permissions, so publishers are fine with it. I'm happy to share your writing with my students!
"Shafting the superfluous." I am writing that in Sharpie on my forehead right now.
As they say in the old commercial (dating myself here), "Thanks. I needed that."
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