THE "BUT" COMMA - CrimeSpace2024-03-29T10:34:21Zhttps://crimespace.ning.com/forum/topics/the-but-comma?commentId=537324%3AComment%3A378269&feed=yes&xn_auth=noAmen!tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-09-17:537324:Comment:3783732013-09-17T20:50:05.576ZI. J. Parkerhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
<p>Amen!</p>
<p>Amen!</p> This is a difficult subject t…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-09-17:537324:Comment:3784582013-09-17T20:48:20.930Zdan petrosinihttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/danpetrosini
<p>This is a difficult subject to referee! The writers ability to communicate and style should make sentence length invisible. </p>
<p>This is a difficult subject to referee! The writers ability to communicate and style should make sentence length invisible. </p> "English teachers teach the n…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-09-17:537324:Comment:3783722013-09-17T20:46:02.116ZDan L. Colemanhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DanLColeman931
<p>"English teachers teach the non-fiction variety." </p>
<p>Got that right. As a freshman in the William & Mary system, my teacher(Also W & M, Phi Beta Kappa, Mortar Board, whatever, Hootie Pootie), informed me that my expressive style was unacceptable. This is the business of writing here, not the writing business, she'd said. I dropped her class and went the following semester with Dr. Joyce Sancetta, seasoned department head, inspirational, and a hell of a lot easier to please,…</p>
<p>"English teachers teach the non-fiction variety." </p>
<p>Got that right. As a freshman in the William & Mary system, my teacher(Also W & M, Phi Beta Kappa, Mortar Board, whatever, Hootie Pootie), informed me that my expressive style was unacceptable. This is the business of writing here, not the writing business, she'd said. I dropped her class and went the following semester with Dr. Joyce Sancetta, seasoned department head, inspirational, and a hell of a lot easier to please, though my grade was but a C, something to brag about then. The earlier teacher was right, of course, but she was also unacceptable to me at the time. I'm inclined to be less hard on her memory today. We probably could use more like her, holding to standards. "But" seems she spent most of every class impressing us with her ability at having created a word defining a single-seat desk with a table top, monade, manade, something, and encouraging us to be the first on our blocks to use it. It was okay for her to browbeat us about her creativity, just not okay for us to maybe do the same. I know for a long time, when trying to write, the image of this angry woman would appear before me and say, "Aht! Aht! Don't you dare!."</p>
<p></p>
<p>LOL!</p>
<p></p> The comparison doesn't work.…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-09-17:537324:Comment:3781762013-09-17T18:57:05.917ZI. J. Parkerhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
<p>The comparison doesn't work. Long sentences need not be ornamental, though they are usually complex. The complexity of the sentence is due to the complexity of ideas and not to the author's inability to get rid of verbiage. Your view of "best" is opinion! And less isn't always more, just as cliches don't always address the truth.</p>
<p>Modern architects (and artists) tend to please themselves. They rarely consider current tastes.</p>
<p>The comparison doesn't work. Long sentences need not be ornamental, though they are usually complex. The complexity of the sentence is due to the complexity of ideas and not to the author's inability to get rid of verbiage. Your view of "best" is opinion! And less isn't always more, just as cliches don't always address the truth.</p>
<p>Modern architects (and artists) tend to please themselves. They rarely consider current tastes.</p> I was in total agreement with…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-09-17:537324:Comment:3782722013-09-17T18:45:44.492ZAndrew Drummondhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/AndrewDrummond
<p>I was in total agreement with your sentiments until the last sentence. Modern architects...since Le Corbusier have any bothered to consult the inhabitants of the tower blocks or the social housing that they design or renovate?</p>
<p>I was in total agreement with your sentiments until the last sentence. Modern architects...since Le Corbusier have any bothered to consult the inhabitants of the tower blocks or the social housing that they design or renovate?</p> Genre writers frequently avoi…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-09-17:537324:Comment:3782692013-09-17T18:31:56.741ZJude Hardinhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/festus
<p><em>Genre writers frequently avoid long sentences because their audiences are unable to cope with them and toss the book to reach for an easier reader.</em></p>
<p>Or maybe we avoid long sentences because we believe less is often more.</p>
<p>Because, to us, clean is preferable to cluttered.</p>
<p>Because the best stories are often the ones told the most economically. With the sparest prose. With the highest degree of clarity.</p>
<p>Modern architects frequently avoid gargoyles and ornate…</p>
<p><em>Genre writers frequently avoid long sentences because their audiences are unable to cope with them and toss the book to reach for an easier reader.</em></p>
<p>Or maybe we avoid long sentences because we believe less is often more.</p>
<p>Because, to us, clean is preferable to cluttered.</p>
<p>Because the best stories are often the ones told the most economically. With the sparest prose. With the highest degree of clarity.</p>
<p>Modern architects frequently avoid gargoyles and ornate columns; I'm pretty sure it's not because they think their clients are pinheads.</p> I've always thought the voice…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-09-16:537324:Comment:3782482013-09-16T00:51:43.285ZEric Christophersonhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/datahog
<p>I've always thought the voice of the POV character should determine sentence length (though some variation in length is a must). The sentences in my latest novel, for example, are twice the length on average of any other work of mine.</p>
<p>I've always thought the voice of the POV character should determine sentence length (though some variation in length is a must). The sentences in my latest novel, for example, are twice the length on average of any other work of mine.</p> It definitely depends on tone…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-09-15:537324:Comment:3778332013-09-15T20:22:59.121ZI. J. Parkerhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
<p>It definitely depends on tone and voice. Can't speak to the rest.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I vary my sentences but have from the start kept them mostly short. I've also worked on having shorter paragraphs, and lately on shorter chapters. But I have done so because I didn't think readers would bother to read otherwise. In my case it had nothing to do with voice or tone, and I generally need longer sentences for internalizing when I'm making a point. :)</p>
<p>Dialogue tends to be fairly short also in…</p>
<p>It definitely depends on tone and voice. Can't speak to the rest.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I vary my sentences but have from the start kept them mostly short. I've also worked on having shorter paragraphs, and lately on shorter chapters. But I have done so because I didn't think readers would bother to read otherwise. In my case it had nothing to do with voice or tone, and I generally need longer sentences for internalizing when I'm making a point. :)</p>
<p>Dialogue tends to be fairly short also in my case. I notice that British detectives speak at greater length. </p> Shorter sentence create the t…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-09-15:537324:Comment:3783452013-09-15T20:04:09.791ZDana Kinghttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DanaKing
<p>Shorter sentence create the tone and voice I'm looking for, and make the points I want to make better and more clearly. </p>
<p>Shorter sentence create the tone and voice I'm looking for, and make the points I want to make better and more clearly. </p> Why do you then?tag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-09-15:537324:Comment:3781502013-09-15T13:50:08.591ZI. J. Parkerhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
<p>Why do you then?</p>
<p>Why do you then?</p>