Playing with language
There
are several ways in which I try to stretch normal language. No
writing is ever perfect - and two readers will have two different
opinions about whether something works. I am never completely
satisfied with what I've written and every time I read it I will
change something - and often change it back again ten minutes later.
Imagine what my life was like before I had a computer!
Here
are some of my habits:
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I may use the 'wrong' part of speech (often a noun
instead of an adjective, or adjective instead of
adverb). |
Examples:
The sea-shell sound of a harp.
Dreeg
glared cobra eyes at me.
His hair plastered greasy.
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Sometimes, I put a word in the 'wrong'
place. |
Here
are some examples:
I was lying white on a bed.
I pulled a
sleepy mist over his eyes.
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I use
metaphors a lot. A metaphor is a phrase which is not literally
true but is meant to make you think of something particular,
something relevant which adds a new strength to the
description. (Careful, though - in Mondays are Red, I
write lots of things that are not literally true, but they
aren't all metaphors.) |
Here is
an example of a metaphor:
She had dug herself a hole in her
head and was not coming out.
And
this is NOT meant to be a metaphor:
I feel the sounds of
strawberries on my fingers. (This is the synaesthesia talking,
not my language.)
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Sometimes I just make words up, or create new compound
words. |
Here
are some examples:
The rat-grey smell of her
fear.
'Cripple,' he snided at me as he passed.
A fairground,
ice-cream-van-innocent tune.
And our breath rasping over
stick-dry tongues.
.eerie-eyed man .
. a spasm jerking his
blobbly neck.
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I often write sentences which are not proper sentences
- usually without a verb, or a
subject. |
Here
are some examples:
Gravy heat, unbreathable. Sweat leaking.
Blood pulsing. Eyes swimming red. Brain swelling in my skull.
So
much easier just to fall asleep.
Something slug-like
sounding.
Look at
each example and think about why I might have chosen to write it
like that - there is always a reason. Sometimes it's just to make
the reader sit up and take notice. Sometimes it's because I prefer
the sound of my odd word. Sometimes it's because I prefer the
rhythm. Sometimes - often, in fact - it's just because it's exactly
the word I need to paint the picture. Sometimes I almost can't
explain - it's a feeling.
Can you
find some more examples of each?
Can you
write some yourself?
My second novel, Fleshmarket,
is set in the 1820s, so the language is quite different. I had to be
very careful not to use phrases and words that would not have been
in use at that time. It was interesting because it made me think
much more deeply about our language and how it changes in subtle
ways as well as the more obvious ones.
When I was writing
Fleshmarket, I made an interesting discovery. My editor
picked me up on a few phrases and said I was bringing synaesthesia
into my writing again. But what I discovered is that, although I
don't have true synaesthesia, I do write and think in a very
synaesthetic way. So, to say that something has a 'silver smell'
seems quite ordinary to me. We had a small argument about whether I
could include these phrases. You will have to read
Fleshmarket to find out who won!
My third novel, Sleepwalking, is actually
about language and what would happen if we took away creative
language from humans. I believe that language, emotion, experience
and memory are all linked and if we remove one, we damage or change
the others. Sounds weird? Well, Sleepwalking is mainly an
exciting adventure and you don't have to think about the language
stuff if you don't want to ....
A note about my book The
Highwayman's Footsteps - if you
like the poem The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes, join the club! It is
one of my favourite pieces of writing ever. So much so that I
used it heavily in The Highwayman's Footsteps (Nov
2006). The story of the poem comes into the book, because one of my
characters is the daughter of the highwayman and Bess -
born seven years before their deaths and raised by the highwayman. I
used the poem so heavily that we had to ask permission -
and the poet's daughter read the book, loved it, and gave
permission! I have spoken to her and been to stay in the house where
they lived. I have even listened to a recording of him reading the
poem, and have a copy of an early draft, which shows that he changed
many words.
Anyway, it's an example of how a writer
can be influenced by another. I was certainly influenced by him for
The Highwayman's Footsteps. I'd love to tell you more about this
and anything to do with being a writer - why not
invite me to come to your school? See the page Inviting Me To
Speak.
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