Lyric has a way of working into your consciousness, thrumming in your brain. It most naturally expresses itself in poetry. But lyrical writing can appear in any kind of writing, from nonfiction essays and memoir to the most hard-boiled fiction. Noir has its own musicality. So do thrillers and horror.
Today I'm over at Talespinning, talking about making your stories sing: the benefits of poetry training for novelists. Swing on by for some tips on using poetic devices in your work to give it texture.
Tomorrow, I'll have a special guest, author Connie Keller, here to talk about how having face blindness has in fact helped her build strong characterization. Can't wait for you to hear her story. It's fascinating!
Giveaway
Deniz Bevan at The Girdle of Melian is hosting an ebook giveaway of Never Gone. She's also talking about Daleks. Who could resist? Go forth and enter for a chance to win "a delightful page-turner full of sorrow, mystery and redemption."Does your fiction have a soundtrack? Is it palpable in your story itself?
Not in every story, but in some. Especially poetry,as you know. I'm trying to take a different approach to my writing recently, though. To be bare and raw while still evoking emotion. We'll see how it turns out! Will check out your post ...
ReplyDeleteWith your background in music, I imagine it would. :-) Good luck with your experiment in style and thanks for checking out my guest post.
DeleteNot really... Although there may be a few tunes here and there... Especially as my husband is learning to play guitar and I can hear him all around the house!!!!
ReplyDeleteI wondered if experiencing work as I write it in a cinematic way (with sound and camera angles) is somewhat atypical. LOL.
DeleteA budding musician in the house might be affecting how you write in ways that you haven't noticed yet.
HI, Laurel...
ReplyDeleteI LOVE music... It is always playing at my place.... It's inspiring, uplifting, and brings emotion on so many levels.
Off to check out Deniz and your guest post.
Music is so evocative. I find it hard to write in complete silence, and prefer to have something inspiring in the background. I can, however, play the same CD over and over for days, which drives my family nuts!
DeleteI think poets and musicians who become writers have a distinct advantage in the rhythm and description department. There's a lot of music in ROUGE, but of course, that's b/c they're producing a musical in the "background" the whole story.
ReplyDeletegreat post! :D xoxo
To a degree rhythm can be learned, but yeah, it comes naturally to me because of being a vocalist (and was a percussionist in HS band, so rhythm was really drilled in).
DeleteWhat I find interesting is when an author's word choices and rhythms sound like jazz or a driving orchestral piece.