#15 Getting funky with rhythm and prose
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Hooray – the podcast is back again! Sadly, no Manuela this week, so you’re stuck with me on a solo mission to tell the world about rhythm and meter and how they have as much to do with prose and fiction as they do poetry. I even read an extract from my novel. Can you imagine? I know, it’s exciting stuff.
Seriously though, I reckon rhythm is what separates the wheat from the writerly chaff, so have a listen and tell me if you agree. I also talk about the suspension of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for 2011, and Ben Johncock’s fabulous attempt to get us all crowdfunding.
Leave your feedback and comments in the, erm, comments section!
Hey there Iain
I’m rereading ‘Lorna Doone’ and really enjoying the rhythm of Blackmore’s writing. Some of the language and sentence lengths are challenging, but the underlying rhythm invites me to keep reading
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It seems to be an art that’s missing from modern ‘popular’ writing where telling the story seems to be the only thing that matters. (There are many exceptions to that statement, of course; ‘Caleb’s Crossing’ by Geraldine Brooks includes some beautifully rhythmic passages.)
Love how you love writing and sharing your writing wisdom.
Hi Desolie and thanks for the comment. One of the reasons I pretty much only read literary fiction is because I think that the writing is important and it isn’t all about the story. Good books have both great writing and a cracking plot. That said, I must say that when I refer to rhythm and literary fiction, I don’t mean complicated writing. I’m actually a big advocate of simple language to tell a story – I love Ray Carver, for example. All very interesting!
Very interesting podcast. It made me think about how different rhythm is when you write in another language. In my case, I am a Spanish speaker since I live in Argentina but I have a good grasp of the English language. Even if my main projects are written in Spanish, there is just something delicious about constructing and editing sentences in English.
I think that in the end, doing it enriches your knowledge about your own language and your writing skills. Words are music, just like you said. You are 100% right about that.
Thank you very much for reading the extract from your novel, too. The last part about the neighbor was a really nice twist!
Hi Daiana and thanks for the comment. I wish I could say I was bilingual too, but unfortunately I can’t. I know what you mean though, the rhythm is totally different from language to language, which means translators must have a very difficult task on their hands!
Glad you like the extract…