Writing the words or telling the story

[Svrtnsse]

Now and then when I'm writing I find that I take much more joy in crafting intricate and beautiful sentences than in telling the story.

I'm not sure it's even a problem, but I still found it interesting. How do you guys feel about this, are you mainly focused on getting the story out or do you sit around tweaking the sequence of words?

Fairly often I see advice on how I'm better off just getting the words out so the story gets done and that I can fix the wording later in the second or third or fourteenth draft. I can't argue with the logic in this. It makes perfect sense to me, but the temptation to fiddle with the details on the unfinished product is still great.

 

[Pythagoras]

I think that writing words for their own sake is fast becoming a lost art, and that makes me sad. Stories are important, but words can be beautiful too.

 

[Lord Ben]

Writing can be fun but the heart of it comes from the story when I read. I find a clever pun amusing, references to the story itself within the story I find entertaining "This is all a bit cliche thought the farmboy as his powerful ancestry is revealed to him." type stuff makes me squeal with glee. Adroitly authored alliterations are admirable also. I wouldn't consider stuff like that to be "beautiful" though.

 

[yachtcaptcolby]

I agree with Pythagoras. Good storytelling isn't just getting somewhere, it's making the getting there part interesting. A big part of that is in how you communicate with the reader.

Just make sure you know when to stop tweaking. I'm an obsessive tweaker and there are times when I have to just force myself to move on.

 

[skip.knox]

For a great example of crafting brilliant sentences, read "Between the Woods and the Water" by Patrick Leigh Fermor. The descriptions of landscapes, homes, people, moments, are simply stunning. And the grace of the sentences does propel the reader on to the next and next sentence. That said, I'll close with the stuffy and obvious statement that if crafting the sentences disrupts the story then you need to get on with the story telling.

For other such advice, please consult Knox's Store of the Painfully Obvious. Franchises available.

 

[Svrtnsse]

The responses in this thread brought on another interesting question: what is a beautiful sentence?

I think that, to me, a beautiful sentence is one that works well with the sentence around it and which as a whole says more than just the words that make it up. I guess, in a way, this is a lot of what poetry is about, but I'm thinking it can work in regular stories too. Not all the time, but here and there.

 

[Bruce McKnight]

Good for you! I try to pull back and do the same thing from time to time - but I usually have to force myself. Sometimes, I get so hung up on trying to finish a project or hit a word target that I forget that I'm not going to make a million dollars doing this, that I write because it's something enjoyable to do.

 

[Nobby]

If the words sing let them.