An ‘old style’ writing voice.

[Chessie]

Ok, clearly I believe that prose is important otherwise I wouldn't be on this writing forum, write daily to try and improve, read on a regular basis, and learn all I can about the craft from numerous writers, etc. I don't believe it's fair to insinuate that I don't think prose is important from the perspective I'm offering.

Story= pacing, character relationships and development, clarity of story delivered by prose that makes sense to the reader and gives him/her an idea in their head of what they're reading, strong openings, strong endings, twists to keep them turning the page, plot that is tied to the characters and their desires, plot that is deep and thematic, etc. All of these things are more important than taking out or reducing the adverbs, exclamation marks, or whatever. There doesn't need to be a literary approach to prose in order to make the story part good. That's my point and we can disagree on that which is totally cool, too.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

See, I would just include the prose in with the "story". I see the story as the whole, or as plot only, depending on context. And of course adverbs and !'s aren't going to make or break a story seen in its whole, that's silly. Adverb use is also worse in different situations than others. My biggest problem with adverbs is more often than not they are one of four things: Pointless, redundant, weakener, and/or they were spots the author could have just done better. I was a long time adverb defender... then at some point I realized what I could be doing instead.

From samples of your writing I've seen you aren't as adverb crazy as you paint yourself, LOL. Small sample, so that could be off.

Ok, clearly I believe that prose is important otherwise I wouldn't be on this writing forum, write daily to try and improve, read on a regular basis, and learn all I can about the craft from numerous writers, etc. I don't believe it's fair to insinuate that I don't think prose is important from the perspective I'm offering.

Story= pacing, character relationships and development, clarity of story delivered by prose that makes sense to the reader and gives him/her an idea in their head of what they're reading, strong openings, strong endings, twists to keep them turning the page, plot that is tied to the characters and their desires, plot that is deep and thematic, etc. All of these things are more important than taking out or reducing the adverbs, exclamation marks, or whatever. There doesn't need to be a literary approach to prose in order to make the story part good. That's my point and we can disagree on that which is totally cool, too.

 

[Chessie]

Hm. I would still say that prose and story are different but codependent on one another. Story will be more difficult to follow or understand if the prose is struggling. So I agree with you there. And thanks, lol. I do love adverbs in the right places but it's not something I think about too often as I write, otherwise I'll get stuck.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

First draft I don't sweat them, but I instinctively writ around most these days. I use them as markers for (insert something here if you can think of something better" LOL.

Main thing is, if I separate prose from the whole, I will also separate story as plot. Lots of codependent parts. With the "whole" story if it works it works.

Hm. I would still say that prose and story are different but codependent on one another. Story will be more difficult to follow or understand if the prose is struggling. So I agree with you there. And thanks, lol. I do love adverbs in the right places but it's not something I think about too often as I write, otherwise I'll get stuck.

 

[Miskatonic]

I don't mind "modern" prose, but I can't stand modern slang, especially in dialogue.

 

[Incanus]

I don't mind "modern" prose, but I can't stand modern slang, especially in dialogue.

Which has the additional effect of 'dating' a given work. How do books rife with 60's slang read today? I prefer attempting something that might fall in the 'timeless' category, if at all possible. (I love the story about the people in 1976-77 telling George Lucas he should be using a disco sound track for the first Star Wars movie. (!?!))

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Yeah one of my favorites for soundtrack choices is Ladyhawke... Ouch. But then again, back in the 1970-80's nobody really thought about how we'd be watching those movies 30-40 years later in our homes thinking... holy heck! What is that music? Although honestly, Ladyhawke bugged me right off the bat, no offense to Mannheim Steamroller.

 

[Incanus]

Yeah one of my favorites for soundtrack choices is Ladyhawke... Ouch. But then again, back in the 1970-80's nobody really thought about how we'd be watching those movies 30-40 years later in our homes thinking... holy heck! What is that music? Although honestly, Ladyhawke bugged me right off the bat, no offense to Mannheim Steamroller.

Agreed. It's funny because I just tried watching that very movie about a month ago and had to turn it off for that very reason. The music was horribly inappropriate and jarring, and LOUD.

(Just curious demesnedenoir, your screen name means something like 'dark domain', right?)

 

[Jim Aikin]

And besides, who are you? The rules police? You have every right to like/dislike someone's writing style but my point is that it's not all about prose. Story trumps all of that. So judging a book by merely reading the first few paragraphs of the opening chapter makes your points invalid and uninformed. I'm not trying to be mean, but it really irritates me that I see this crap on these forums so much. Prose takes last place when it comes to telling a good story.

I have to jump in here. I think Chesterama is being defensive. A writer's prose style can tell us (even within a few paragraphs) a great deal about the author's thinking style (or ability). Dismissing prose style as irrelevant is just wrong.

It's true that there are no rules. You can write in whatever style you happen to enjoy. But having done so, you must expect that readers will react in ways that you may not appreciate. Among other things, your ability to handle prose will tell readers about your ability to think clearly and communicate effectively. The rules of good writing are not rules -- they're guidelines. But they exist for important reasons! They should be ignored only when one has a clear need to do so. Failure to learn them is an indication of laziness or inexperience, and neither laziness nor inexperience is something one wants to encounter in a writer.

With respect to the original poster's question -- as others have commented, that passage did not read old-style at all. One of the hallmarks of old-style writing (not the only one) is long, long sentences. If you want to write in that style you should read a bunch of 19th century novels. You'll see what I'm talking about. These sentences were directly influenced by Latin, because in the 19th century many (or most) writers studied Latin. These days, I would say studying Latin would be irrelevant -- but long sentences can and will give your prose a lovely old-fashioned flavor.

 

[Chessie]

Uh...I never said that prose should be dismissed as important in any way. Did you read my other posts where I mentioned that?

 

[Heliotrope]

Oddly enough I've never read a prose that I "couldn't stand"… I mean, I like the old stuff like I said, but someone made a post about modern slang, and I was reminded of a really funny book I read recently (YA) called
Return to Exile (The Hunter Chronicles Book 1) by E.J. Patten:

Phineas T. Pimiscule was not what you'd call an "attractive" man. He wasn't "desirable" or "appealing". He didn't like "things" or do "stuff" or "wash" himself. He was not the kind of guy to "put" "quotation" "marks" around "words" or to say things in an unassuming or assuming way.

He was the kind of guy who wore a monocle.

lol! So funny and engaging! So I'm not so quick to judge.

 

[Jim Aikin]

Uh...I never said that prose should be dismissed as important in any way. Did you read my other posts where I mentioned that?

No -- sorry about that. I didn't read the entire thread, I just jumped in.