Wordsmithing: 10 Principles of Style and a Fragmentitus epidemic

Monday 14 May 2012

10 Principles of Style and a Fragmentitus epidemic

BARCELONA,
where fragments combine beautifully

Apart from a few simple principles, the sound and rhythm of English prose seem to me matters where both writers and readers should trust not so much to rules as to their ears.
F L Lucas

This is a such clever piece of advice. Only when I read it aloud did the meaning clarify.

10 PRINCIPLES OF STYLE - F L Lucas

brevity
clarity
communication
emphasis
honesty
passion and control
reading
revision
sophistication and simplicity
sound and rhythm

Even without more detail that is a great list to think about while writing.

Confession time: I've become addicted to fragments. I want to write in full sentences, I really do. The trouble is, once you start using them, fragments are addictive. They crop up everywhere. They sneak in even if you keep on the lookout. And they stay.

Afterthought fragments, my worst addiction.

Although, lonely verb fragments bleed out there too.

Participle phrase fragments? The worst.

Reading over my wip, I recognised the extent of the problem. It had reached epidemic proportions but I tried to find the cure.

Diagnosis complete.
Cure identified.
I've slaved to rectify the symptoms of fragmentitus. One phrase at a time.
I'm pretty sure the medicine didn't work.

ARE YOU SUFFERING FROM FRAGMENTITUS?

4 comments:

Angela Brown14 May 2012 at 22:17
Well, now...can fragmentitus really be a thing in need of curing if it works its purpose? Does its job? Emphasizes where necessary or spins a tiny nugget here or there?

Okay, see, I'll get on finding the cure right away lol!!!
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Lynn Proctor14 May 2012 at 22:33
i know i am guilty as charged--but for the most part, i like to say, i write how i talk---great list you gave!
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RETURN: YA Paranormal Romance

I was running late. But, it was nothing I couldn’t make up with a bit of effort. I shook my head. Confident and happy? I smiled. Increasing my stride, I pushed until the muscles in my legs burned. I kept up the pace even when the hill grew steeper.

Magpie Lane was hardly wider than a ribbon that edged the woods but that didn’t stop traffic using it to get to the motorway quicker. Large trucks and fast cars loved Magpie Lane. They sent vibrations running through me rising from the soles of my trainers. I felt the disturbance in the ground, even before the air pressure tried to knock me off balance. I hunched my shoulders as the cab hauling a container spat stones up at me.

Jogging on the spot, at the entrance to woodland, I ached to leave the road and go inside. My Mum was probably still asleep but I could hear her you-never-know-what might-be-in-there lecture buzzing on repeat inside my head. I should run safe. Not even I would argue that running through the woods on my own was the best definition of safe but I wanted to run-wild and the woodland offered me that. This early, I should be safe from axe murderers or perverts in the trees and besides, I was fast.

I jogged down the slope into the trees. From two paces in, I felt different. Freer. It felt so right. Running in the woods did great things for my style. Avoiding the roots and dodging branches forced my stride longer, I had to step higher. The woodland, The Weald, was only a sliver of ancient woodland that the developers forgot to build on but it felt like it could have been anywhere. Everywhere. At any time. The oaks and beech trees dominated the space and the skinny, silver-birches squeezed up beside them. I laughed. For a second, the woods reminded me of school and I needed to run a lot faster.

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Monday 14 May 2012

10 Principles of Style and a Fragmentitus epidemic

4 comments: