Wednesday 15 May 2013

Perfect words

A head full of words
I was reading some manuscripts in preparation for last Saturday's Golden Egg Academy Editorial Surgeries and I had one of those moments when a phrase just jumped out of the page. It was so perfect. The rest of the sentence needed a bit of work but that single phrase said so much, but then, oh joys, it happened again in a different manuscript. The phrases were just beautiful. They said everything they needed to in just a couple of words. And no, I am not going to tell you what the phrases were. I will leave that for the writers when they get their books published.

As an editor/lecturer, it is a wonderful feeling when you have those moments when reading someone else's work, but when it happens to you as a writer you feel just wonderful. For a brief moment you feel as if you are at one with the world. What you are hoping for is words that will stick in your reader's mind. They will see exactly what you are seeing. Some people assume it only happens in poetry but it doesn't. These beautifully crafted words can appear in any written text, in the same way it doesn't have to be fiction, be it adult or children's. I have read some stunning phraseology used in creative non fiction which has lifted the writing off the page, so the images danced in front of me.

Even as a lecturer in creative writing I can't turn to you and say 'write me a beautiful phrase, NOW!' Neither can I give you precise instructions on how to make it happen. That's not how it works. It comes with learning your craft, listening to your imagination and following your gut. You need to write, read, write, read some more and then do a bit more writing. Letting those images pirouette and having faith in them. But also, there's a caveat here, be prepared to kill them off, however beautiful they are, if they do not move the story/plot forward.

Speaking as a writer, I often find you may not even be aware you have created one of these phrases. It is only when someone read's your work and spots them that you become aware. You are just conscious of writing your story to the best of your ability. I am rewriting the first third of my novel. I have written nearly 18,000 words but at the moment I have no idea if they are in the right order. Will there be one of those wonderful dancing phrases in all those words? Who knows? We will have to wait and see. I have a fair few more words in my head waiting to get down on the page but at the moment life as an academic is definitely getting in the way sucking the life out of me.

I was going to list my favourite phrases here but then decided that I couldn't decide which ones to include so, instead, I have decided to ask you - what are your favourites?

Here is Gabrielle Aplin's Home. 'It is not just where you lay your head...' For me home is just as much about people as places and they don't all have to be in the same location either. It is just good to know they are there when your 'home' is rocked.

6 comments:

  1. Great post! at the risk of sounding corny, that sentence in Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows rang like an answer to all my Pottermaniacal adolescence... 'Of course it's all happening in your head, Harry, but why on Earth should it mean it's not real?'

    One of my favourite phrases is the description by Sartre of someone imagining being shot in The Wall: he says it will probably feel 'like burning hail through my body', but the beautiful, harsh alliteration of 'r's and the pointy circumflex accents are lost in translation from the French 'grêle brûlante'....

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    1. Oh yes, these are wonderful. Thank you.

      If I get enough responses maybe I will do a collection and post them all.

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  2. Great - and, Clem, adding the physical appearance of the phrase is a great extra bonus!

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    1. What about you Anne - have you got any? What about some of your own - did you ever write something and think that just works?

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  3. The pink clouds in Great Agtsby - I can't remember the exact phrasing but the image has stayed with me for nearly 30 years x

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    1. That is another important aspect Kathy, those words that stay with you for years afterwards. Thank you for reminding me of that

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