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Writing Prose

The Eckleburg Workshops

In its broadest sense the term applies to all forms of written or spoken expression having a regular rhythmic pattern. It is most often meant to designate a consciously shaped writing, not merely a listing of ideas or a catalog of objects. And, although, good prose is like verse in having a rhythm (cadence), it is unlike verse in that this rhythm is not to be scanned by normal metrical scenes or makes by such devices of reiteration as free verse exports. But a clear line between prose and poetry is difficult to draw. Some of the qualities of prose are: It is without sustained rhythmic regularity; it has some logical grammatical order, and its ideas are connectedly stated rather than merely listed; it is characterized by style; it will achieve variety of expression through varied diction. (Handbook to Literature)

Intergeneric Prose

Prose that belongs between or among genres; it may combine prose and poetry, or it may cross the boundary between fiction and history. (Handbook to Literature)

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Sources

The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present. Eric Kandel.

The Banalization of Nihilism: Twentieth-Century Responses to Meaninglessness. Karen L. Carr.

A Handbook to Literature. William Harmon.

“Cogito et Histoire de la Folie.” Jacques Derrida.

Cognitive Neuropsychology Section, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition.

Eats Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Lynne Truss.

The Elements of Style. William Strunk. 

Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Peter Barry.

Critical Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Stephen Eric Bronner.

Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. Lois Tyson

The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. David H. Richter.

A Handbook to Literature. William Harmon.

Literary Theories and Schools of Criticism. Purdue Online Writing Lab. 

New Oxford American Dictionary. Edited by Angus Stevenson and Christine A. Lindberg.

The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Martin Puchner, et al.

The Norton Introduction to Philosophy. Gideon Rosen and Alex Byrne.

Woe is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English. Patricia T. O’Conner

Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft. Janet Burroway, Elizabeth Stuckey-French & Ned Stuckey-French.

Writing the Other. Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward.

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Writing Polysyndeton, Killing [natzees] and Cormac McCarthy

The Eckleburg Workshops

 

Polysyndeton: “The use of more conjunctions than is normal.” Often used by literary prose writers to form pattern and fluidity in language and syntax. From motivational film speeches, such as Brad Pitt’s “Killing [nat-sees]” in the Tarantino dark comedy, Inglorious Bastards, to Pulitzer Prize-winning novels such as Cormac McCarthy’s The Road:

When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him. Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before. Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world. His hand rose and fell softly with each precious breath. He pushed away the plastic tarpaulin and raised himself in the stinking robes and blankets and looked toward the east for any light but there was none. (The Road, Cormac McCarthy)

For many literary prosaists, polysyndeton is a primary technique in the art of forming canvas and language enticement. In McCarthy’s above excerpt from the Pulitzer Prize-winning, The Road, notice how the language uses far more conjunctions—and, but—and prepositional phrases—”in the woods in the dark”—than what is formally taught as “good” English. Midway through the section, set off on its own, is a simile wrapped in a phrase. McCarthy breaks many formal rules in order to linguistically hook his reader, pull the reader onto his canvas and entice the reader to follow such a dark, post-apocalyptic journey of a man and his son.
The language also becomes an ironic experience for the reader. Its fluid beauty juxtaposes to the horrific and violent experiences of its characters. This juxtaposition further drives the narrative tension as the reader senses a great tragedy all around them and more still to come. 
As you revise your latest story, essay or poem, consider how your opening words seduce your readers. How might you explore your syntax for perfect moments of what Jacques Derrida termed différance, or the moment in which one both defers and differs from the convention?

 

Polysyndeton

The use of more conjunctions than is normal. Often used by literary prose writers to form pattern and fluidity in language and syntax. (A Handbook to Literature)

When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him. Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before. Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world. His hand rose and fell softly with each precious breath. He pushed away the plastic tarpaulin and raised himself in the stinking robes and blankets and looked toward the east for any light but there was none. (The Road, Cormac McCarthy)

 

Asyndeton

The omission of conjunctions. Often used by literary prose writers to form pattern and fluidity in language and syntax. (A Handbook to Literature)

 

Suggested Reading

 

Writing Assignment

  1. Choose a current narrative in revision. Study how the opening tone of the language both parallels and challenges the overall tone of the narrative.
  2. Where, in your opening paragraph, can you play with syntax and sentence variation so to create a linguistic dance and seduction? Have you begun with short, snappy sentences or fluid sentences? Do you see a change within the paragraph from snappy to fluid or fluid to snappy? How might you further play with this change of syntax and use of polysyndeton to manipulate the tonal experience of your opening paragraph and scene?
  3. Does the closing scene of your narrative return to the tonal qualities of the opening? Are the opening and closing both ironic and inevitable? How might you further juxtapose the opening language and closing language so that they form a sort of narrative all their own? (Remember, your reader will have not only contextual recall but also rhythmic, no so unlike a chorus in a song. Use this to your advantage with your language.)
 

Sources

A Handbook to Literature. William Harmon.

The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Literary Terms. Martin Puchner, et al.

Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft. Janet Burroway, Elizabeth Stuckey-French & Ned Stuckey-French.

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Writing Point of View

The Eckleburg Workshops

The perspective from which people, events, and other details in a work of fiction are viewed; also called focus, though the term point of view is sometimes used to include both focus and voice. The point of view is said to be limited when we see things only from one character’s perspective; it is said to be omniscient or unlimited when we get the perspective of multiple characters:

Narrator: A narrator or narration is said to be internal when the narrator is a character within the work, telling the story to an equally fictional auditor or listener; internal narrators are usually first- or second-person narrators (see below). A narrator or narration is instead said to be external when the narrator is not a character. A first-person narrator is an internal narrator who consistently refers to himself or herself using the first-person pronoun I (or, infrequently, we). A second-person narrator consistently uses the second-person pronoun you (a very uncommon technique). A third-person narrator uses third-person pronouns such as she, he, they, it, and so on; third-person narrators are almost always external narrators. Third-person narrators are said to be omniscient (literally, “all-knowing”) when they describe the inner thoughts and feelings of multiple characters; they are said to be limited when they relate the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of only one character (the central consciousness) [this is often called subjective third by writers]. If a work encourages us to view a narrator’s account of events with suspicion, the narrator (usually first-person) is called unreliable. An intrusive narrator is a third-person narrator who occasionally disrupts his or her narrative to speak directly to the reader or audience in what is sometimes called direct address.” (Norton).

  

Sources

A Handbook to Literature. William Harmon.

The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Literary Terms. Martin Puchner, et al.

Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft. Janet Burroway, Elizabeth Stuckey-French & Ned Stuckey-French.