Writing Forum

Just so I'm clear on this matter, Ms. Hawthorne, let me ask a question... or two. Are you saying that one's opinion of the subject matter most certainly impacts one's opinion of the prose used to write about said subject? If you are, then I would direct you to the following:

Perhaps when all is said and done it is just a matter of personal taste, and each and everyone of us must come up with our own individual measuring sticks.--Eliot Wild

Also, are you saying there is no such thing as "good prose" when you question that such an identification actually exists? If you are, then are you also telling us here in the Writing Forum that you've never read "good prose" yourself, that it cannot be identified, that we can't put our fingers on it and say, "Hey, look here, everyone, this is some dang fine prose?"

Do you not, Ms. Hawthorne, have a favorite prose smith? Is there not some writer out there... Oh, I don't know, like, maybe another Canadian writer such as yourself... uhmmmm, maybe someone like--- Hey, I know, how about Margaret Atwood? Check it out...

“Love blurs your vision; but after it recedes, you can see more clearly than ever. It's like the tide going out, revealing whatever's been thrown away and sunk: broken bottles, old gloves, rusting pop cans, nibbled fish bodies, bones. This is the kind of thing you see if you sit in the darkness with open eyes, not knowing the future.” ― Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eye

Are you telling me we can't properly identify that excerpt from Ms. Atwood as "good prose." Granted, there might be some readers who think it is "bad prose," but I bet they're few and far between. However, I say, "Whatever, they are entitled to their opinions, as weirdly silly as they might be."

I think--- and certainly correct me if I'm wrong, Ms. Hawthorne. I think what you're saying is that each of us as readers will have varying opinions on what constitutes good and bad prose, and furthermore those opinions are somewhat shaped by our perspective on the subject matter. And if that is truly what you are saying, then I agree.

My goal above was not to list ALL the criteria for good prose. I don't even think that can be done. There are so many factors that shape our individual opinions on what makes certain writing good and other writing bad, it would just be a hopeless lifetime effort trying to enumerate such criteria.

But what we might be able to do is share at least a few of those qualities we each individually find in "good prose," i.e. the prose we like best. That's just what Ms. Halcombe did in here article on the subject, the one for which I posted a link in my original post. She says there are three very important factors to her, and they are readability, vivid language, and distinctive character voices. But like me, she did not limit good prose to these characteristics only. In other words, reader's interest in the subject matter, let's call it, is another quality, another of the criteria, that shapes our view of the prose. Thank you, Ms. Hawthorne, for adding that one to our list.

So, to answer your question, I do believe that for some people subject matter influences their opinion of the prose. But for some others, that isn't necessarily true. For example (and I honestly am not taking a shot at you here, though you probably deserve it for pulling my pigtails a little bit), I believe your prose work, Ms. Hawthorne, is uniquely twisted and darkly exquisite, bewitching and sublime. However, I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in YA literature.

Just sayin'...