Questions, Answers 4

Maybe you are saying that by using rhythm, ‘high oratorical mode’ etc, the writer deepens the story so that, once the reader learns what the writer is doing, the story reaches into him even more. I can see that, I think.


That's ONE aspect.

But the pace/pacing, the colour of the words, Anglo-Saxon versus Latinate, all accumulate.

Think of sexual seduction. It's the words, the pace, the timing, the atmosphere….







But I read ‘The Ledge’ and it made my legs wobble as I was reading. I may be wrong, but it didn’t feel like it was the rhythm or symbolism that kept me hooked.

But had it been written by a sixteen year old klutz with no command of language and delivery (same ideas?)


It was the tension, the humanity, and I think it was the insight.


Psst, where do you think the fucking humanity WAS? It's not just THERE. It's CREATED by the author's word-choice, characterization, pace, pacing, weight, weighting, waiting. CRAFT

In comedy it's not just the joke is it? It's also "the way you tell 'em…"



Should I ever aspire to anything, I’d like my stories to make people’s legs wobble.

Amen to that.

Are simile, metaphor, incantation the keys, or can it be done by mining my soul, letting it all out onto the page in simple words and sentences?




That can't be answered in minutes. Carver did it in APPARENTLY simple sentences. He wrote his stories in a day but worked them for a month or more.

Who was it said there is nothing more powerful than a perfectly paced period?

Mere "mining the soul" promises nothing.

First that soul needs something universal (and interesting) to say, second, the owner of that soul needs CRAFT to express it well.