Answering A Meme

from the wonderful and superfast Annie

List some of your favorite words:

Elixir
Twilight
Evensong
Numbnuts
Paleontology

What’s your favorite maxim or proverb?

I love that line from Braveheart:

“In order to find his equal, an Irishman is forced to talk to God.”

I kid, I kid. Not really – but I’ll list another one:

Not sure if this counts as a proverb – but I would say the quote is one of the guiding lights of my life so I will list it:

“Make voyages! — Attempt them! … there’s nothing else.”

— Tennessee Williams, Camino Real

What’s your favorite quotation?

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

— Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice

What’s your favorite first line of a novel?

Oh this is hard. There are so many.

But I think I’ll go with:

It was love at first sight. — Catch 22, by Joseph Heller

I also have a real fondness for:

“Where’s Papa going with that ax?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.
Charlotte’s Web, by EB White

Give an example of a piece of description that’s really pleased you in your reading lately:

Jarndyce and Jarndyce drones on. This scarecrow of a suit has, in course of time, become so complicated, that no man alive knows what it means. The parties to it understand it least; but it has been observed that no two Chancery lawyers can talk about it for five minutes, without coming to a total disagreement as to all the premises. Innumerable children have been born into the cause; innumerable young people have married into it; innumerable old people have died out of it. Scores of persons have deliriously found themselves made parties in Jarndyce and Jarndyce, without knowing how or why; whole families have inherited legendary hatreds with the suit. The little plaintiff or defendant, who was promised a new rocking-horse when Jarndyce and Jarndyce should be settled, has grown up, possessed himself of a real horse, and trotted away into the other world. Fair wards of court have faded into mothers and grandmothers; a long procession of Chancellors has come in and gone out; the legion of bills in the suit have been transformed into mere bills of mortality; there are not three Jarndyces left upon the earth perhaps, since old Tom Jarndyce in despair blew his brains out at a coffee-house in Chancery Lane; but Jarndyce and Jarndyce still drags its dreary length before the Court, perenially hopeless.

Jarndyce and Jarndyce has passed into a joke. That is the only good that has ever come of it. It has been death to many, but it is a joke in the profession. Every master in Chancery has had a reference out of it. Every Chancellor was “in it”, for somebody or other, when he was counsel at the bar. Good things have been said about it by blue-nosed, bulbous-shoed old benchers, in select port-wine committee after dinner in hall. Articled clerks have been in the habit of fleshing their legal wit upon it. The last Lord Chancellor handled it neatly, when, correcting Mr. Blowers the eminent silk gown who said that such a thing might happen when the sky rained potatoes, he observed, “or when we get through Jarndyce and Jarndyce, Mr. Blowers;” — a pleasantry that particularly tickled the maces, bags, and purses.

Bleak House, by Charles Dickens

Which five writers do you particularly admire for their use of language?

James Joyce
Annie Proulx
Joseph Heller
AS Byatt
Michael Chabon
Herman Melville (oops, that’s 6 – but Melville must be on the list)

And are there writers whose style you really dislike?

Well, Nicholas Sparks, although I hesitate to say that he even has a “style”. He disgusts me.

Other than that …

I don’t like simple writing that just stays on the surface. I don’t like obvious writing. People with fundamentalist views in general, are awful writers because they either write to convince – or they just preach to their own choir – and this does not make for interesting writing, in the slightest. (I’m not just talking about religious fundamentalists. I use that term to mean: black and white certainty of being right.) Yawn. I prefer mystery and depth. I don’t like writers who start with a huge generalization that you MUST accept before you read on. I don’t like lazy writers who start with assumptions. Actually, those people aren’t lazy writers, really. They’re lazy THINKERS. I don’t like writers who take sit-coms as their main inspiration for dialogue. I like writers who are bold – even if they fail on occasion. I don’t mind if you over-write (Stephen King) … if you tell me a damn good story (Stephen King). I can’t stand condescending writing. I also like writing that is SIMPLE. I guess that might seem like a contradiction, but you know – do I contradict myself? very well, I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes. Even James Joyce said, “With me, the thought is always simple.” And yes. That is true true true. I don’t like purposefully obscure writing, although I do love to be challenged. But something that is opaque because perhaps the opacity will hide the fact that there ain’t no there there?? Yuk.

What’s the key to really fine writing, in your opinion?

There’s definitely some truth to the “show don’t tell” rule in my opinion, although I think that’s a “rule” that is mainly for beginning English 101 writers. I love writers who SHOW me stuff. Annie Proulx is marvelous at that – her At Close Range collection is spectacular in this regard. I literally lost my sense of time and space and self reading that book. (Example here) I was on the plains, I could feel the frost, hear the crunch of dry grass, feel the wind … Her descriptive passages are NEVER too much. I’m never like: Okay, okay, I get it. She finds JUST the right words … and stops when she should. Unbelievable.

And I suppose this is just a matter of taste – but to me, fine writing is something that transports me. I forget I’m reading – and I go into the story. But what in the writing actually does that? I’m not sure – it’s different for different books.

Like, I would put something like Good Night Moon in this category – even though it’s a kids book and it only has 20 words in it. I find that book transportive, and perfectly so. I lose myself.

And I would also put most of Stephen King’s books into this category.

All the good writers have that ability.

John Irving, George Eliot, Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, Dostoevsky, Dickens, Ian McEwan, Charlotte Bronte, etc. etc.

I lose myself in their books. It’s like diving into a pool.

There’s something CONFIDENT in their prose. They know how to lead me by the hand into their story. They are not ambivalent, they do not overstay their welcome, they TRUST me to fill in the blanks – they don’t talk down to me, or over-describe, or make sure I “get it”. They are confident storytellers, and their prose reflects that. It’s why I look forward to their books.

And here’s Dan’s answers

And here are Stefanie’s answers. I like “effervescent” too.

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22 Responses to Answering A Meme

  1. Dan says:

    Dang – how could I have left Michael Chabon off my list?

  2. just1beth says:

    Thank you for addressing good children’s literature. I think that would be extremely hard to write- to not condescend to a child, and yet “transport”, as you say. As teachers, we spend soooooooooooooo much time trying to teach the concept “Show, don’t tell” and finding good examples are imperative. So often, adults think of children’s lit. as “cute” vs. important, and serving a purpose. Kids need that escape just as adults do. So, thanks Sheila. You always remember the kids.

  3. red says:

    Beth – oh man, I so agree about how hard it would be to write a really good childrne’s book.

    What are your favorites??

  4. annie says:

    Thanks for the shoutout! Love your answers–and couldn’t agree more about Stephen King. For as popular as he is, he’s totally underrated :)

  5. steve on the mountain says:

    Thanks for another goodie for us book people. Allow me to bring up one of my favorite words no longer in use. The word is ‘plash’. It says what it is. ‘Splash’ has elbowed it aside. ‘Splash’ is not ‘plash’. ‘Splash’ is a firecracker dropped into a pool – ‘ssssssplash’. ‘Plash’ is anything dropped into a pool.

    I’ll go away now.

  6. red says:

    Oooh, “plash” is an excellent word!

  7. Sharon Ferguson says:

    Some of my favorite words: gloaming, gravid, swath, impervious

    Some words I HATE…well, one…can only think of one right now (too many distractions right now): jingoism – too often used in the wrong context. Just too often used, period, by those who have an agenda.

    I like the fantasy/sci-fi writer Ursula LeGuin for the reasons you like your writer – she is very elegant in her choice of words, no overdescription, no beating a dead horse. She is a 180 from Tolkien, whom I also love. Dont know what that says about my tastes in writing. I dont like writers who assume that I’m going to have the same post-modern cynical world view they do and expect me to view things like spirituality and Heavenly things as a faery tale.

    Fav First Line: In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit…

    Fav Last Line (at least I think its the last line): “Whatever walks there, walks alone.” – The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson

    Favorite line EVAH – “Oh! Oh!” cried my idiot crew. “It’s a ghoul. We are doomed.” – Patrick O’Brian, Treason’s Harbor (I think – theres 20 books! I cant keep track!)

    Oh, another fav line: “He loved a battle; he loved a wench.” – Patrick O’Brian, Master and Commander.

  8. Sharon Ferguson says:

    (and maybe this will tempt you to finally pick up a Patrick O’Brian book)

    Jack frowned, considered, and said, ‘Well, in any event they accomplished little or nothing at sea, that bout.’ He passed on to the necessary allowance for dip and refraction to be made in working lunars, matters with which he was deeply familiar; but as he tuned his fiddle that evening he said, ‘Stephen, what was the Americans’ cry in 1775?’

    ‘No representation, no taxation.’

    ‘Nothing about copulation?’

    ‘Nothing at all. At that period the mass of Americans were in favour of copulation.’

    ‘So it could not have been No reproduction without copulation?’

    ‘Why, my dear, that is the old natural philosopher’s watchword, as old as Aristotle, and quite erroneous. Do but consider how the hydra and her kind mulitply without any sexual commerce of any sort. Leeuenhoek proved it long ago, but still the more obstinate repeat the dry, like so many parrots.’

    ‘Well, be damned to taxation, in any case. Shall we attack the andante?’

  9. mitch says:

    words I hate…

    * fungible
    documentation (hate hate hate hate hate kill kill)
    * bromide
    * bloggy (we’re talked about this one – and I think that between us, Sheila, we’ve almost killed it off!)
    * almost anything with “-tacular” appended for cheap irony.

  10. red says:

    Mitch and Sheila single-handedly killed “bloggy”!

    I don’t know – does Instapundit still use it? I never read him – but he’s the one who started that ikkiness!!!

    Bloggy goodness?

    Oh my God, kill me NOW! Ewwww!!!

    I haven’t seen “hat tip” around in a while either. I can’t staaaaand “hat tip” and I honestly cannot say why. I just hate it.

  11. red says:

    I love that you hate the word “bromide”, Mitch.

    I’m laughing out loud.

  12. red says:

    Sharon – you remind me (and thank you) that I’ve been meaning to re-read Shirley Jackson for a while now.

    I was SO into her in college – and I must re-visit her stuff!

    And believe me – when I finally read Patrick O’Brien’s stuff, you’ll be the first to know!

    :)

    Oh – you and Dan, I should say.

  13. Dan says:

    //I can’t staaaaand “hat tip” and I honestly cannot say why. I just hate it.//

    Sounds like my extreme dislike of Green Day. There’s no logical reason for it, yet I actively cultivate this grudge. Like I hear one of their songs and am unable to get away from it and I say ‘You win Green Day. This time.’

    And I do eagerly await the day you read O’Brian., though I fear I may be becoming pushy. ‘Watch Quantum Leap Sheila! Read Patrick O’Brian! Then write about it!’ Hurry, hurry!

  14. red says:

    HAHAHAHAHAHA

    So much to do, so little time!

  15. red says:

    I actually do know why I hate “hat tip” but it’s not JUST about the “hat tip” – it’s about blog-speak in general.

    I barely can tolerate the word “blog”, that’s how bad it is.

    Bloggy goodness is, to me, the most egregious and disgusting example of blog-speak. I hate “blogosphere” with a raging passion.

    Etc. Etc.

    And like you – I cultivate this grudge. I kow-towed to that stupid style of writing in the first year of blogging, and then realized: why am I doing this? It’s some bizarre kind of peer pressure, or … everyone’s doing it … but then … I hate it, why am I following? I’m using BAD writers as my examples – people who think “bloggy goodness” is clever or cute or whatever the hell.

    No more I sayeth to the raven! No more!

  16. mitch says:

    I never used “hat tip”. Not out of any cultivated hatred, just because “via …” was faster to type.

    But ever since I heard you first describe your hatred, I’ve caught myself on the ragged brink of using it a time or two, and pulled back, in a cold sweat and with shaky hands…

  17. red says:

    hahahaha I cant, in all good conscience, hate those who use the terms – because the slang itself is so widespread.

    But oh. Oh. How I hate the slang itself!!

    I’m a big fan of “via” as well.

  18. Sharon Ferguson says:

    Dan, Sheila – I am pushy, aren’t I?! LOL You gotta understand though…I don’t have too many books that I can talk to people about…much of my reading in the last several years consists of books needed for the Homeschool thing…its a LIFESTYLE, doing this homeschool, I tell ya. So its a bit like being in college: you do so much reading for assignments that you give someone who asks if you read for pleasure a dirty look — are you KIDDING ME?!

    And Ive been so disappointed in books in the past that I thought were going to be a good thing, only to be utterly bored or disgusted. So when I find one, I want to SHARE THE LURVE.

    Which is why I like reading your blog Sheila – someone’s done the dirty work for me *wink*…among other reasons.

    Anyway, I’ll shut up now…

  19. red says:

    Believe it or not – I love the pushiness, Sharon.

    Both you and Dan both have been big “YOU GOTTA READ THIS” forces in my life – and I love that crap. I swear!!! :)

    Besides, any fan of Sydney Carton is a friend of mine forever.

  20. Sharon Ferguson says:

    Besides, any fan of Sydney Carton is a friend of mine forever.

    *thumbs up* AAAAALLLRIIIIIIGHT!!!

    (…will a scene where Jack gets a sloth drunk persuade you…?)

  21. tracey says:

    I haaaaate the term “linky love.” I hate it as a post title, you know, “Serving up Linky Love,” and I hate it as a side bar category. And I just hate it in general, wherever, whenever, forever. Whenever I see it, my stomach does these queasy little flip-flops. Why? I don’t think I can even tell you. It’s just hate. Lingering hate.

  22. red says:

    “Linky love” is disgusting. I could not agree more.

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