Thursday, August 23, 2007

Gerard Ch 1

So, I finished reading the first chapter of Philip Gerard's book Creative Nonfiction and I wanted to draw attention to my absolute favorite line from what I have read so far. On page eleven, Gerard describes what is almost impossible (well, maybe just difficult) to produce. He says: "Good writing is elegant--cleanly arresting rather than gaudy or merely decorative." Which, in itself is a clean, concise way of writing. Ah, the simple ease of reading elegant prose. Isn't that the goal? But then, it is so difficult to actually do--you leave too much out and you sound like a seven-year old. But you put too much in and you sound like an arrogant ass hole. What we need is a poetic balance. Something that is work to produce and complete ease to read. Nicely said, Gerard. That's definitely food for thought.

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