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Would you rather: story vs prose
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I think I would rather read the choppy book. While some might have a fondness for channeling their inner Hemingway and stuffing pages full of beautiful scenery, I get to the point where I'm like "so what?".I went to this writers group this past weekend, and there was this nice lady who was writing a very personal story. Her writing was beautiful, but it was about 10 pages long, covered 6 different events over the span of a year, had very little dialogue, and NOTHING HAPPENED.
When she was done reading, everyone gushed over it. But, it was literally page after page of list building. Listing what recipe to use, listing the items that went into making toys. She had some good ideas, but needed to pick 2 or 3 of them, not 8, and focus on those. After I pointed that out, everyone else started really telling her the truth.
I guess that's a story for another topic (being truthful with an author).
Then, this other guy had a cool story about a soul deciding to put off heaven for 5 days in order to say goodbye to his wife. The soul was risking his spot in heaven in order to so. Cool idea, plot and characters, but it had a shitload of mistakes.
To me, authors who ramble and don't know what to cut are harder to fix than ones who make spelling mistakes. So, I prefer the choppy option.
I'm a language lover so, given the choice, I would rather read the well written prose. I just can't cope with mistakes in grammar and spelling. They drive me nuts!!Of course I would rather have option C - I know it's not allowed - A compelling story, well crafted characters and a good use of language. :)
Me too, I find mistakes very distracting, but I have to say I would take a story in which the author has something very interesting to say any day of the week. What is the author's intent? If what they have to say rings through the story and is very compelling, I find that this can overcome mistakes (if these are few). I think Nathan's problem with the woman's story maybe wasn't so much because nothing happened, but because even beautiful language that makes no statement and has no true intent is indeed very dissatisfying.
No matter what story you write, you're making some kind of promise to the reader. If it's meant to resonate symbolically then it should do so; flowery prose in and of itself doesn't mean that it will.
I'm Team Choppy. I despise s,p&g errors and do find them supremely distracting but I'd take em over rambling prose any POW day. No matter how beautiful the prose may be, if it's excessive and without point then it will fail in holding my attention and I will glaze over.
No doubt about it. I'll take choppy over great prose. I recently read The Angel's Game
which had incredible prose and boat loads of atmosphere but half way through I kept thinking - so get on with the plot.
Character and plot beat fancy prose any day.
I want to read books with excellent writing and a tight plot. I don't want to choose between them. Which reminds me I need to post my review for Mean Spirit. It had both.
considering we were limited to those choices and those choices only? i'd go for plot. mostly because when I read it everything else seems to be far far away, even grammatical errors. there has only been one book that I have loved that had no plot (well, no main plot at least) and it was a Grisham novel. which is a first for me in both the prose and that I enjoyed a Grisham novel. nothing against the guy, just his usual books aren't for me.
Nathan wrote: "Borrowing a little bit from our teenage years, I figured I would start a game of "would you rather?".I've done a lot of reading, and much of that has been from indie authors. Yay, go us! Over the..."
I was actually thinking something very similar Nathan except I was thinking along the lines of four categories:
1. Great stories, great prose.
2. Great stories, poor prose.
3. Awful stories, great prose.
4. Awful stories, awful prose.
Categories 1 and 4 speak for themselves don't they, but 2 and 3 are problematic. Personally I like something to be eloquently written but I can see patience isn't for everyone. In fact I admit I sometimes skim through the purple prose to get to the good bits but when I do I feel guilty.
Mod
Honestly, everyone loves 1 but that's almost unattainable. It's either a rare gift, an author's tenth book or a story years in the making. Personally I'm happy with stories that can give me a great something, though I prefer a great story told simply than a simple story told in a great way.
For me, it's a little bit of both. First and foremost, I want to experience the story with the characters; feel everything they feel. The best way to fall in love with the story is to fall into the story and become part of it. An author that can do that wins me over. But I love the beauty of prose. I love when an author captivates me with the perfect phrase, perfect description that gives me chills. They both kinda need to be there to make a phenomenal book. So I really can't choose one over the other. Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a perfect example of a beautiful balance of story and prose.
Team Prose. Maybe it's all those Joyce and Woolf novels I was forced to read in college. Or, at least with a prose novel about nothing, the reader is getting the "nutrition" of good poetic writing rather than the "junk food" of an entertaining story written atrociously.
Lol, nutrition V junk food. Love the metaphor, though not loving the side it sets me on.
ha ha. Well, sometimes a little junk food is good for the soul. We all need to indulge from time to time :0)
I'd take the choppy writing. If prose goes on too long my mind starts to wander and before I know it I'm thinking of all the things I have to do the next few days instead of concentrating on the book. Then I have to re-read what I just read and the cycle happens again.
^^ Yes! Exactly. Unless prose is saying something interesting, I drift away.
Books are like movies in this respect. Art house flicks may be beautiful to look at but if you can't understand what the eff is going on--for whatever reason--what's the point? I like good movies/good books as much as the next person, but if I have to risk between something ambitiously artistic and something I'm confident treads over familiar territory, guess which way I'm going? Can't a middle way be achieved?
Tabitha wrote: "Or, at least with a prose novel about nothing, the reader is getting the "nutrition" of good poetic writing rather than the "junk food" of an entertaining story written atrociously."For me it's more like a fancy restaurant meal versus the cheap chicken burgers my grandma made. They both feel good, I love them both, but living with only one all the time would make them loose their shine.
(Forums are the bung it in risotto I make myself, messy and not fancy but it fills a hole.)
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Books mentioned in this topic
Mean Spirit (other topics)The Angel's Game (other topics)
I've done a lot of reading, and much of that has been from indie authors. Yay, go us! Over the course of what I've read, I have come across two distinct recurrences: Sloppily written novels with great plots and ideas, and beautifully written prose that goes on for pages and pages about nothing.
So, would you rather read something with a good story line that is chalk full of mistakes in grammar and spelling, but the story and characters are coherent and entertaining, or read beautifully sculpted words which harp on the same thing for 35 pages, and never goes anywhere?
Neither is ideal, but I'm sure we've come across both types. In this exercise, there are no cop-outs. You can't just say "I would put it away." Let's assume you're a POW with bamboo shoots being shoved under your nails, and it won't stop 'til you pick one to finish reading. Because, let's face it, reading either one of those choices is a lot like being tortured.