This may be the most bizarre query you've ever had - but please bear with me. I'm currently taking an online creative writing course and my latest assignment involves emulating my favourite author, The problem is that I'm not sure I have a favourite author - certainly not one whose style I would like to adopt.
The style I like best is a sort of lyrical prose. The best example I can think of to describe it would be Galadriel's voice over in The Lord of the Rings when she tells the story of how the rings came into being. A short quote:
"The world is changed. I taste it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost; for none now live who remember it. It began with the forging of the great rings: three were given to the Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings."
The trouble is that this is not taken from Tolkein but is Fran Walsh's composition for the screenplay. Nonetheless I love the sound of it. Does anyone know of any author of fiction who writes in a similar style?
I'd be very grateful for any help.
Sylvia has beaten me to it. I was about to mention that wonderful book too.
Hmm. The problem with writing in that sort of style is that it sounds a tad pretentious. It could sound ridiculous in the wrong context. To some extent the style you adopt will depend on what you want to write. You could hardly write an argument between a married couple, or a chat between two men in a pub in that style!
One book I liked, and which combines a lyrical style with dramatic events is Anthony Doerr's "All the Light we Cannot See". This is the opening:"At dusk, they pour from the sky. They blow across the ramparts, turn cartwheels over rooftops, flutter into the ravines between houses.Entire streets swirl with them, flashing white against the cobbles. 'Urgent mesage to the inhabitants of this town," they say. "Depart immediately to open country."
*lyrical* DUH!