Flowing prose

Antilles

Hey all, long time no post.

I've been working on a novella length story for the past few weeks, and I'm mid-way through the second draft. I think I've got the plot nailed down, but I'm having really trouble with making my prose flow. The problem is I know flowing prose when I read it but I can't figure out how to do it. Flowing sentences have a rhythm that just feels right. The pacing of events doesn't seem rushed or protracted. There's clever word use that stands out but isn't forced.

I sit at my table reading a piece like that, holding my story next to it and asking it "why can't you be like that??"

I have whatever the editing equivalent of writer's block is. Has anyone else had a similar problem? Any advice on what a writer needs to do to make their prose flow?

echo beach

Congratulations on getting the first draft done.

Antilles wrote: »

I sit at my table reading a piece like that, holding my story next to it and asking it "why can't you be like that??"

The reason you can't be like that is because you aren't that writer, you are YOU and your writing has to have your rhythm and voice to be authentic. Perhaps you are trying to be something you're not. Maybe you need to leave the work aside for a week or two, write something else or do a bit of reading, then come back to it with fresh eyes. It may flow better than you think. Have you got a second opinion on it?

Antilles

Yeah I know all writers are different, but I'm not comparing my work to any one writer in particular. I could pick any of my favourite stories by my favourite authors and the prose just... works. Ray Bradbury or Neil Gaiman are both excellent writers and their stuff is almost poetry, but everyone else I really enjoy reading writes wonderful descriptive prose that somehow still feels natural too.

I've written stuff I really liked before, that had a good flow and everything. But when the flow doesn't come naturally, when it's not there in the first draft I don't know how to fix it. When I had trouble with plot, there were loads of guides around with advise on how improve. Same for dialogue and structure, but nobody seems to talk about making your prose flow.

I've had one other person read a small section of this particular piece but she didn't have any specific suggestions. I almost feel like I'm at a dead end and that if I can't make the prose work there's nothing for it but putting the thing in a folder and coming back to it in a few months hoping the right words will come. Then I think there's got to be some solid advice out there on how to do this.

redser7

People talk about the importance of writing first thing in the morning, literally as soon as you wake up. Throw on something and just go somewhere private and start working. Idea being that you are in a middle place between wakefulness and sleep and still connected to your unconscious/creative self and that self-conscious editor isn't awake and dictating to you yet. Deep inside is where the good stuff comes from/flows. Or so they say I've read interviews with Kevin Barry who says that getting into that creative zone is the most difficult part of writing. You learn to accept that most of the time it just doesn't work but it is a necessary part of getting to the good stuff. You have to wade through the crap. In other words just write and make yourself available for when the magic chooses to happen. You might have to rewrite your piece all over again or at least be open to the idea if/when those illusive muses decide to turn up ...

Das Kitty

Achilles.

Read it aloud. You will find the blocks in the flow with your ear a lot easier than with your eye.

Das Kitty

Oh and if you want some honest feedback on a portion, you can send it to me.

Mr.Nice Guy

Das Kitty wrote: »

Achilles.

Read it aloud. You will find the blocks in the flow with your ear a lot easier than with your eye.

Good advice. Diana Athill, a famous literary editor who has worked with many greats and been published herself, says the same thing:

"Read it aloud to yourself because that's the only way to be sure the rhythms of the sentences are OK (prose rhythms are too complex and subtle to be thought out – they can be got right only by ear)."

This quote from Will Self might also prove helpful:

"You know that sickening feeling of inadequacy and over-exposure you feel when you look upon your own empurpled prose? Relax into the awareness that this ghastly sensation will never, ever leave you, no matter how successful and publicly lauded you become. It is intrinsic to the real business of writing and should be cherished."