The Curative Power of Rankin and Bruen...

[Steven Torres]

When I start writing a book, I have this habit of picking up an Ian Rankin or Ken Bruen novel and paying some close attention to their prose styles. I loved the terseness of their prose. The cadences. Bruen can write like an expert at a machine gun. Picked up THE DRAMATIST at The Black Orchid the other day. I was told about the ending (not what happens, but that I'll be dazzled by it, though Joe used a less polite term if I recall correctly). I haven't gotten to the ending. In fact, I just started a few hours ago so it'll be days before I even approach the end (slow reader, me). But the sharp prose isn't held back for the end.

Now, there is a trick here. The short sentences, the staccato, the short paragraphs and the short chapters. Isn't this James Patterson? Unfair to compare? Yeah, probably. Patterson doesn't actually sit down to type for one thing. Still, the style is meant to move you along. Many authors do it. Hell, even I do it. But then... There's what you're being moved to. Short sentences, perhaps, but grand themes. Patterson writes about people getting into and out of trouble. Bruen writes about people. That's one difference.

Bruen (and let's not forget Rankin though perhaps to a lesser degree) writes a pared down prose, few descriptions, plenty of dialogue (all crisper than anything Patterson could hope for - I know, I read a page of Patterson...) everything moving foward. Hurtling really. I don't know what awaits me at the end of this book, but I'm pretty sure my face will be rammed into it at a hundred miles an hour. And I'll thank Bruen for the revelation.

Rankin also writes a tight prose. No messing around. The stories are longer - more traditional, more red herrings - but I get the feeling that if Siobahn ever turned up dead and bloated one day, Rebus would go Jack Taylor in a heartbeat and there'd be no one who woud want to misdirect him as he asks his questions...a leaner book (not that they're fat now) and one hell of an ending.

(Of course, it's been a while since I read a Rebus novel. Quite possibly Siobahn is dead already...)

In any event, this is the type of prose I'd write were I able. Personally, I tend toward the long sentence. This may be the influence of Spanish on me. The spanish writer will tend toward long sentences - poetry. This is another way to keep the reader moving forward - the cadences of poetry. The slow build, the rise, the ending delayed, and finally, release. One of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novels has each chapter created out of a single sentence. It's a 300 page book, but only fifteen or so sentences.

Stil, when writing noir, do as the noirwegians do. Tight, clean prose, every line like the crack of the whip. Something to aspire to.

[I. J. Parker]

Strange, I don't read Bruen for his writing style (or Rankin). I know Bruen does some interesting and innovative things somewhat reminiscent of poetry (his centered one word lists) and I applaud this sort of experimentation. But the fact is that I read Bruen for his characters. That goes for the Jack Taylor books rather than the others. All the Jack Taylor books were topnotch. One of Rankin's novels was excellent. The one set on London.
But I do sometimes go to other books for style. Last time it was Banville's THE SEA. Short lesson. I lost the book soon after I bought it. Never did read the plot. Some beautiful language, though.