tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851578517872251953.post3947070889662899556..comments2023-10-10T05:07:13.577-07:00Comments on En Tequila Es Verdad: Dana's Dojo: The Writer as ChameleonDana Hunterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00890312745525306991noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851578517872251953.post-19546758043449537292011-03-29T15:07:32.099-07:002011-03-29T15:07:32.099-07:00Despite reading literally thousands of SF stories ...Despite reading literally thousands of SF stories through high school, I didn't really "get" the idea of style (in a conscious sense, anyway) until I read a book of stories by Stephen Leacock around the middle of my undergrad years. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Leacock ) His ploy in the collection "Nonsense Novels" (1911) was to satirically ape a number of styles popular during the late 1800's- early 1900's, and I was awed that one person could write in all these different ways. My favorite line of his is from the story, "Gertrude the Governess", in the above-noted collection, and goes like this: "Lord Ronald said nothing; he flung himself from the room, flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions." (from http://www.famousquotesandauthors.com/authors/stephen_leacock_quotes.html ) It's funny as a stand-alone sentence, but in context, the reader risks convulsions and suffocation.Lockwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05960762797349483760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6851578517872251953.post-31321701521829670182011-03-29T13:01:49.120-07:002011-03-29T13:01:49.120-07:00The flip side to all this worrying about style is ...The flip side to all this worrying about style is the amazing effort it takes to consciously write in a particular style. The style I'm struggling with now is the Professional Geology Paper (my thesis)and bits of me keep trying to creep into the section where I speculate on what my data might imply. AAAGGGHHH! Even worse, a month or so back I took time away from my thesis to indulge in a little editing of some of my fiction work, and that made it damn near impossible to come back and write in Professional Paperese again.Karennoreply@blogger.com