RARA-AVIS: Language and storytelling

From: terry bowman ( foolesgold@gmail.com)
Date: 22 Nov 2007


Thanks for the interesting discussion on language yesterday. I'm going to revisit Faulkner and James (and probably Oates) because of it. As a fledgling suspense (moving towards noir) writer myself, I'm searching for that medium between language and storytelling. Lately I've been ping-pang-ponging between Cormac McCarthy, Raymond Chandler, and Ken Bruen to the tune of eight books in the last week. The differences stylistically are amazing.

One line from yesterday that rings for me:

Mario wrote:
"The particular magic of Faulkner, his invention of giving you the information in very little bits, of never telling what he's going to do, of working from inside out as if in a spiral (in the novels), etc., was quickly grasped as what it was: a major innovation."

For me, this is the essence of suspense. Who is the best current writer in this regard? Who spins out the best web of suspense this side of Spiderman?



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