Grace notes in writing

[sknox]

>One is scenes that don't add much to our understanding of the plot or characters. The other is lyrical - or ornate - writing.

I agree with the distinction, but I would phrase it differently. One is poor writing, the other is good writing. And then I would re-phrase my own words thus: one is the stuff that I don't like, the other is the stuff that resonates for me.

That is, there really is good writing and bad writing, but there's also personal preference. With those variables in play, there's plenty of room for someone to like this author's writing and disliking another's, while someone else likes just the opposite. And, of course, at all four points it's more of a quantum cloud than an actual point.

On another thread someone suggested specific examples would help. I think it would help here, too. So long as we speak in generalities, we sort of all agree and all disagree.

One last point. I find I enjoy Bradbury rather less these days. When I was young, I absolutely adored Ray Bradbury. I actually typed out entire chapters (on one of those Actual [tm] typewriters) simply because I loved the words. I have returned to Martian Chronicles and The October Country and other works in the past few years (I'm 71) and while I still appreciate the lyricism, I find myself getting a little impatient. Sometimes it just feels like fireworks. To put another way, the tastes of each individual reader change over the years, making any absolute pronouncements about writing even less reliable.

 

[Fiberglass Cyborg]

As a reader, yes, I am a HUGE fan of grace notes. And the odd random cadenza. I get most bored when things go into straight-ahead thriller mode: where nothing is mentioned that doesn't contribute directly to the clockwork of a grindingly mechanical plot. I love flavourful language; vivid metaphors; quiet scenes with no obvious purpose that just feel right somehow; lengthy descriptive passages; long digressions into irrelevant sub-plots. Room to breathe, room to make the story come to life. I swear more than half of the older novels I like would be torn to shreds by present-day editors or writing groups - "cut that, and cut that, and cut that as well, why is that even there?" I can think of a couple of current authors whose acknowledgements thank their editors for help trimming down the irrelevant - my reaction being, "I think I'd've preferred an earlier draft to what I just read, frankly."

Oddly enough the "only plot" aesthetic comes at a time when novels are ballooning in length. The only respectable thing to fill out all those extra pages? More plot, apparently. So you end up with twist after twist after twist after twist, and reams of pages of minimally-described action that might as well be a blow-by-blow account of a game of Tetris for all the emotional impact it has.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I completely understand what you mean, @Fiberglass Cyborg. These days I often find myself reading a book (and not just SFF, but other genres as well) and just when the story seems to be wrapping up to what would be a perfectly satisfying ending and a satisfying length, the author throws in what seems to me a totally unnecessary twist or two, simply in order to stretch out the word count. And I find it quite frustrating. So that by the time I reach the end, I am tired of those characters and that setting. Any emotional investment I might have had earlier, is all worn out.

Which is a pity, since these are frequently the first book in a series, and had they ended earlier I might have been eager to read the next volume, but as it is, as a reader I am done.

And it is not as though I am opposed to long books. Because there are many long books that leave me wanting more. But those are books that take the time to draw me into the world and the characters so thoroughly, that when the next book comes out I am eager to revisit.

I realize that this is all a matter of taste. Some readers get tired of description rather quickly, have little use for a character's internal reactions to what is happening. But for some of us, it is possible for a story to wear out its welcome with too much plot and not enough of the things that are simply there to delight us.

 

[sknox]

>the author throws in what seems to me a totally unnecessary twist or two, simply in order to stretch out the word count.
I believe that's called a "graceless" note.