Friday, July 10, 2009

It's All in the Arrangement

'I have the words already. What I am seeking is the perfect order of words in the sentence. You can see for yourself how many different ways they might be arranged.'
--James Joyce. Earlier, we mentioned Dublin's finest here and here.

posted by John Ettorre @ 7:10 AM   7 comments

7 Comments:

At 9:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think I said that, instead of him. Kidding. It's so true, isn't?


Neve

 
At 10:50 AM, Blogger John Ettorre said...

Neve, in my mind, you're the female American equivalent of Joyce, only your prose is way less dense, and you do without the hat and cane.

 
At 2:29 AM, Blogger Jim Murdoch said...

Or as the late, great Eric Morecambe would say: "I'm playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order." Here's the link. Makes me smile every time.

 
At 7:59 AM, Blogger John Ettorre said...

Pretty similar dynamics with music, isn't it, Jim. Thanks for that link.

 
At 12:34 PM, Blogger Pat Washington said...

As with music, so it is with good prose and poetry. It's in the arrangement, in the pauses, and also in the silence and what is not written, as well as what is written.

 
At 12:35 PM, Blogger Pat Washington said...

Or just... ditto to what you said, John. ;-)

 
At 2:09 PM, Blogger John Ettorre said...

Pat, you've nicely deepened my point, for which I thank you. It's a reminder of what I consider a cardinal rule of good writing: before sending it off, read it aloud first. The ear catches what the eyes miss.

 

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