Judy tagged me the other day with the Roar for Powerful Words Award (2 tags in 1 week! What is the blogging world coming to?) I liked the questions, so I'm playing.
Here are the rules:
* Link back to the person who tagged you.
* List three things that you believe are necessary to make writing good and powerful.
* Tag five others and comment on their blog informing them that they've been tagged with this award.
In My Mind, Good & Powerful Writing Has All Of The Following Elements:
1. An Original Way With Words ~ The authors I admire most are those who can manipulate language in a way that takes my breath away (to paraphrase Emily Dickinson, who said it best in today's quote). When a line is so perfectly constructed, with the right words and the right tone, when it makes me stop and read it again, aloud, because the cadence and the image is near-perfect, that's powerful writing.
2. A Plot That Turns Pages ~ Even if the language of a story doesn't have finesse, if it has a plot so intense that I can't put it down, the book will usually capture me. Intense doesn't have to mean suspenseful, by the way. It does have to mean original and captivating. It means that every chapter ends with a hook that makes me want to read more. It means that I try and guess where the plot is going, and then I'm pleasantly surprised when I'm wrong.
3. Characters That Captivate ~ I want characters that are so developed that I think about them when I'm not reading the book. I miss them when the story is over. I feel as though they are somehow real people that I have come to know in real life. That's tough to do, but the talented authors succeed. All the little details, from physical description to inner turmoil to relationships with others in the story...in the best stories, they add up perfectly to a person I want to get to know more.
(Now, of course, the challenge is to try and do all that in my own writing!)
I'm not going to tag anyone specifically for this one, but if you want to play, let me know!
6 comments:
Yep... I'm with you -- especially on the whole "charactor" thing. That's what makes or breaks a story, IMHO.
Dang, Allie ... all three of those are great. Your No. 1 is the very reason I love John Updike so much.
Hi, Tagged twice in one week?! You must be popular.....Cindi
jchoppes[at]hotmail[dot]com
That's a great list and I agree, without them, there is no story to tell.
Maybe you'll find some books with that great writing in them soon... btw, have you been to the website lately?
Judy, I wondered about all the hinting going on...wow! I can't believe I won! Now I just have to find a place to put them all...
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