[Link] Your Prose Style Has a Name: Do You Want to Know What it's Called?

by Bethany Alcott 

When I was nineteen, I read a NYT bestselling memoir. The story was shocking, harrowing, and unputdownable. I remember telling a close, speed-reader friend of mine how “well-written” it was. Intrigued, she immediately went and read it. She came back to report that yes, it was gripping, but it wasn’t well-written. I thought this was a bit of a snobbish remark because, well, is was written by a bestselling author with a successful career as a journalist for the New York Times, so she had to be good at writing—right?

In the following years, after reading more broadly, particularly the classics, my tastes elevated and I concluded that my friend was right. That memoir was decently written, but it wasn’t astonishing. At the time, I didn’t have the repertoire to judge the difference between a compelling page-turner and well-written prose.

But what constitutes “good writing”? Does good writing come down to voice and aesthetic? Or clarity and minimalism? What is that chef’s kiss ingredient that makes the prose just so *pinches fingers and relaxes eyelids* mmm-hmm? This is a difficult question to answer because good writing is found in a variety of styles, voices, and expressions. But often good writing is just one of those things that one begins to recognize intuitively rather than filtering it through a rigid set of rules. It’s one of those you-know-it-when-you-see-it type things.

Of course, writing is also story i.e. characters, setting, plot, and themes, but I’m specifically referring to prose here. I do think there are methods to determine the merit of a story itself, though I will not be touching on that today. That is a feast of a topic deserving of a series. This essay is more like grapefruit: fresh, bite-size, compartmentalized, and creatively healthful.

The Two Types of Prose

There are two primary styles of prose writing: transparent prose and stained glass prose. Now if you’ve been subscribed here for a while, you may be aware that I occasionally share rants opinions about stuff and things (and the stuff I dislike I stuff inside the things) but on this topic specifically, I’m actually not going to pick a side because I truly love both.

Read the full article: https://writerfullyalive.substack.com/p/your-prose-style-has-a-name-do-you