In "My Life's Sentences" a brilliant article about writing, (New York Times, 3/18/12) Jhumpa Lahiri claims: "They (sentences) remain the test, whether or not to read something. The most compelling narrative, expressed in sentences with which I have no chemical reaction, or an adverse one, leaves me cold." So what sort of sentence keeps the reader hooked?
"Certain sentences breathe and shift about, like live matter in soil. The first sentence of a book is a handshake, perhaps an embrace. Style and personality are irrelevant. They can be formal or casual. They can be tall or short or fat or thin. But they need to contain a charge. A live current, which shocks and illuminates ... Sentences are the bricks as well as the mortar, the motor as well as the fuel. They are the cells, the individual stitches. Their nature is at once solitary and social. Sentences establish tone, and set the pace."
How does Jhumpa Lahiri create the sentences in her fiction? "After an initial phase of sitting patiently, not so patiently, . . . they begin arriving fully formed. . . I hear sentences as I'm staring out the window, or chopping vegetables. They are pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, handed to me in no particular order."
Later, they are "sorted, picked over, organized, changed. Most will be dispensed with. All the revision I do - and this process begins immediately, accompanying the gestation - occurs at the sentence level. It is by fussing with sentences that a character becomes clear to me, that a plot unfolds. . . As a book or story nears completion, I grow acutely, obsessively conscious of each sentence in the text. Each sentence is "confronted, inspected, turned inside out."
Does her writing process seem unusual? Or do you also work this way?
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Sentences That Breathe
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...oops, sorry, I was staring out the window waiting for the right sentence to come to me.
ReplyDeleteSigh.
That sort of effortless sentence building doesn't always happen for me. Sometimes I even feel like I'm birthing my sentences - minus the epidural. I "sort of" understand - some of the best thoughts come to me when I've allowed my brain to play while I focus on some other task. But it is rare that I receive complete sentences from some otherworldly source. Sounds like a really cool way to write though!
Thanks for sharing the article, Gale!
Gale,
ReplyDeleteI might occasionally get a line for a character to speak, but that isn't something that comes until after I have fleshed out the character or plot in my head. I did write down a random sentence that came to me in a dream once, but I've never thought of a way to use it. Maybe that will be revealed in yet another dream. :)
Robin and Linda,
ReplyDeleteYes, her method of working from random sentences wouldn't agree with my organized mind. When I sit down to write, I like to have an idea about where I'm going before I start building sentences.
But it surely works well for her! I love Jhumpa Lahiri's fiction.
Sometimes images or phrases do float to the top of my consciousness, but I try not to get over-attached to them for that reason. You know what they say about editing: "kill your darlings!" generally the hardest part of writing a novel for me is keeping the whole thing in mind while I'm working on the parts.
ReplyDeleteSometimes images or phrases do float to the top of my consciousness, but I try not to get over-attached to them for that reason. You know what they say about editing: "kill your darlings!" generally the hardest part of writing a novel for me is keeping the whole thing in mind while I'm working on the parts.
ReplyDeleteWow! Her sentences about sentences are so very beautiful!
ReplyDeleteEvery once in a while, I "hear" a sentence and think it should be part of a story. But for me, these sentences never seem to go anywhere. (They often sound to me like they should be part of a story for grown ups... and I rarely write stories for grown ups.)
For me, I think I often think in stanzas. Every once in a while, one will arrive fully formed, but more often I have to work hard to get them out. And when I am fussing, it is often with individual words to make sure those stanzas read as smoothly and as perfectly as possible.
Thanks for sharing! So very interesting to read about different writers processes!
I wish those fully formed sentences would float my way!
ReplyDeleteI did however, relate to the jigsaw puzzle metaphor. Often when a sentence doesn't work, I'll fiddle with it until it works and voila! I get the same rush as finding that perfect puzzle piece.
Ariel, Throwing away a favorite sentence (or even word) is one of the hardest things writers do. But if it doesn't fit, ditch it.
ReplyDeleteBrianna, Yes, Jhumpa's sentences about sentences show what a great writer she is. She can make a dull subject sparkle.
Judy, The puzzle metaphor is something we can all understand, but those sentences appearing? That's harder to fathom.