The Importance of Musicality in Prose
To the left is a picture I drew as a child of my French boyfriend fantasy; you can see why writing was a better artistic pursuit for me than sketch artist.
In one of the chapters of my life, I lived in Paris. My French boyfriend, like most twenty-year-old men, was an aspiring rock musician.
I recall one day working with him on song writing; I was encouraging him to write the music to sound like the feeling of the lyrics he’d written. He nodded, and then played some Metallica or Nirvana riffs.
Well, we were a failure at writing songs together and much better at kissing in the rain—but my ideas on the musicality of prose haven’t changed.
Just as the notes should match the mood of the music, the length of the sentences, the words chosen, the sound of the words themselves are all important elements in writing convincing emotion-evoking prose.
You know it when you read it, especially if you’re a writer. They are the passages you walk away from thinking “Wow. How did s/he do that?”
I don’t have a formula or a recipe for making this happen, per se, but I think that good writing begins with good awareness: being cognizant of the sounds of words and the feelings they evoke as we write them. Perhaps even more importantly, a writer should consider how punctuation can enhance (or detract from) his or her intended meaning.
I won’t be writing music any time soon– like sketching, it’s not my forte— but I do believe in, and attempt to implement, musicality in prose.
What passages or authors make you say “Wow. How did s/he do that?”
Struggling to go from Writer to Published Author?
Get the insider scoop in this FREE ebook.
All of Toni Morrison’s writing is musical and lyrical, to me. This is why she’s my favorite writer. I especially love the end of “Sula:” it’s so brilliant and moving.
Excellent point, Kat. Thanks for responding. I always love to hear what people are reading and why they love it.
I agree with everything you mention here about the musicality of prose, and I would add one more thing. The rhythm of words and sentences is very meaningful to me. So when you hit that perfect combination of musical words and rhythm…it’s magic! Often times, this magic hits me when writers use metaphor well, either as a serious description of a place, or as a humorous, anecdotal moment. It’s something I aspire to use effectively in my own writing.
You are so right, Susan. I love it when you find those words that just CLICK! 🙂 And your point about metaphor is true also; when an author sits on the fence between poetry and prose, I am in awe of his art. The description of the jungle in Heart of Darkness comes to mind.
I’m not really sure I understand it. Somethings I read seem poetic, that are not poetry. There is a cadence and rhythm and the words flow like a song. While a lot of his work didn’t resonate with me, some of Loui La’Amore’s stuff had beautiful snippets.
I’ve always found music to go hand and hand with writing. I think it may be with how I interpret a piece of literature like people connect to lyrics of a song, the rhythm of a poem or sentence, the elogance of a sentence sounding just like a melody when said and worded correctly. The tone of the speaker as well as the passion for the subject contributes a lot to it like a writer passionately writing veruses just writing to get a paycheck, a musician playing/ singing passionately versues just going on about life, or an artist the same concept.
The difference is the sincerity, hard work, effort, enthusiasm, and growth for each individual who expresses themselves, which cannot be measured, like typical science, because these are emotions and they are real. We need to accept them into our lives and appreciate everything about ourselves that truly makes us unique.