How to get good prose?

[JohannaK]

@JohannaK I think my problem is mostly writing dialogue. I have ideas in my head, I know what's supposed to happen in the scene, but then I get stuck re-writing what people are saying, because it just doesn't flow right.. and doesn't lead to what I want it to lead to. I'll try again once I have a better idea for a story - maybe they have been too ambitious so far.

Oh yes. Dialogue. That unruly beast of warped mind and twisted tongue, always cunning and deceptive.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Without going back to see if someone else already said it I submit the only answer I have seen work...

The secret to getting good prose is writing a whole lot of bad prose. If you write a thousand pages you will undoubtedly get a good one. If you write another thousand pages it will contain at least a few. When you have written ten thousand pages the next thousand will probably contain at least a few hundred.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Gori is fantastic even if he's prone to flights of fancy.

"Even if"!?!

Gori, I would submit (though I may be biased in this, as in all things pertaining to him), is fantastic precisely because he is prone to flights of fancy. This site needs a darn sight more fancy, I should say. Just look how our lovely, fanciful sandwich thread has sputtered out well before it ought.

Fancy and fantasy are etymologically related, you know.

I was just about to advise Mouthwash not to bother himself with trying to impress people on this site with stylistic painstaking, because it's so infrequently appreciated, and there you and Tigranes go and say such nice things about me.

 

[Farm Boy]

Fancy and fantasy are etymologically related, you know.

"Even if"!?!

As are all things awesome and awful.

Is there beauty in the balance?

 

[JohannaK]

Gori has a good point. Doing good prose to impress people in this site is, in my humble opinion, useless. Unless you applied it to some kind of storytelling such as can be found in some AARs, NESes and IOTs.

 

[Borachio]

@JohannaK I think my problem is mostly writing dialogue. I have ideas in my head, I know what's supposed to happen in the scene, but then I get stuck re-writing what people are saying, because it just doesn't flow right.. and doesn't lead to what I want it to lead to. I'll try again once I have a better idea for a story - maybe they have been too ambitious so far.

Have you tried reading the dialogue out loud?

 

[warpus]

Hmm no I haven't. Is that a known tactic for helping you write better dialogue, or are you just asking?

 

[JohannaK]

This is supposed to help write better dialogue, yes.

 

[warpus]

I'm going to give it a try. It never occurred to me for some reason.

 

[Angst]

Yahya Hassan just made a good point.

When asked why Muslim immigrants traveled to the Middle East to fight a war that had nothing to do with them, he asked why Danish soldiers traveled to the Middle East to fight a war that had nothing to do with them.

 

[JohannaK]

Is this the right thread?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I'm going to give it a try. It never occurred to me for some reason.

It does work. I've written dialog that seemed pretty good...and when I heard it it was beyond terrible. Words may fit together really well but feature sounds that don't fit together at all. Somewhere deep in the reader's mind that sets off the "no one would say that, ever" alarm.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Yahya Hassan just made a good point.

When asked why Muslim immigrants traveled to the Middle East to fight a war that had nothing to do with them, he asked why Danish soldiers traveled to the Middle East to fight a war that had nothing to do with them.

Is this the right thread?

Perhaps they all went to the Middle East seeking a legendary cache of good prose...

 

[Gori the Grey]

It's a well written sentence, anyway.

 

[Hygro]

Thanks, but I'm aiming for much better writing. I want people to look forward to my posts because of it.

There's lots of different styles but again, keeping the reader in mind, especially when editing, helps.

Some it it isn't quite the writing itself....

Knowing what you're talking about is a big deal, not straying from your strengths. Keeping your focus on the subject rather than your feelings can help. That helps me a lot. Disregarding allusions and other clevernesses except when you know you're hitting the target can help On the flip tip, practicing other modes of verbal communication can help too, like public speaking, slam poetry, lyrics, etc.

Most of it is all the little things added together.

 

[Angst]

Crap sorry that was for the IS thread.

(thanks Gori!)

 

[Ajidica]

@Mouthwash:
For what it is worth, you can't go far wrong if you stick to the following guideline from Larry Niven:

If you've nothing to say, say it any way you like. Stylistic innovations, contorted story lines or none, exotic or genderless pronouns, internal inconsistencies, the recipe for preparing your lover as a cannibal banquet: feel free. If what you have to say is important and/or difficult to follow, use the simplest language possible. If the reader doesn't get it then, let it not be your fault.

 

[Mouthwash]

@Mouthwash:
For what it is worth, you can't go far wrong if you stick to the following guideline from Larry Niven:

How is this even supposed to help? My problem isn't that I use fancy language.

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

Do away with all the rules, throw them out. Write so you understand but not so it become artificial. Simple is usually the best way

 

[caketastydelish]

Kryiakos is more qualified than the rest of us since he actually writes for a living.

That said, I'd recommend just going to your local bookstore (or Amazon) and getting some self-help books for that.

It's what I did, it did make some difference.