Writing Forum

Honestly, I just got the popcorn out and enjoyed watching you two go at it and reading Stephen's great contribution.

I think Stephen hit the nail on the head in that great prose is to do with how well writers connect with their readers. I don't know if any of you have heard of the Biff and Chip books, but they're a series of books for teaching young kids to read. The first ones don't have any words in and you get to make the story up from the pictures! The later ones have words in and as you progress through the 'levels' the words, themes and plots get more and more advanced.

George R R Martin is often considered a pretty decent writer (I've heard he's sold a few books).

But if the Biff brutally murdered Chip whilst forcing Dad to eat Floppy then, no matter how good Mr Martin may be nobody would consider it great prose. It just isn't right for the audience.


That said, I don't great prose is just to do with the writer-reader connection. For instance I love the Hunger Games series. I read all three books in a month (for some that might sound like nothing, but I typically only get through 1-2 books a month tops). As I read before bed, I found myself getting into bed earlier just so I could have more reading time before sleeping. I was well and truly hooked. The story had me always wanting to keep reading. A page turner in the truest sense. But, I don't think I would describe it as great prose. It was really good, don't get me wrong. But it was the story itself and the characters that I loved. The prose itself was forgettable. I couldn't pick out a bit of writing that was really good. There wasn't any writing that I could quote here as an example of 'great prose' without you having the context of the rest of the story. The prose was 'great' in the sense that it delivered a great story.

I guess this leads onto an interesting question. Are 'story' and 'prose' separate things? Can you have 'great prose' without a 'great story'? There must be some overlap, but how much? The Twilight stories (which I have never read) are massively popular. That must mean the prose did a great job of delivering a story that connected with the core readership. But Twilight is also regularly slated as an example of bad writing. Is it an example of good story, bad prose?



Thanks,
Matt


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