One of the slipperiest issues in popular fiction is that of grammar. If you’ve read my books, you know I take tremendous license with the established rules. For example, there’s an age-old standard that we’re not supposed to begin sentences with ‘but’ or ‘and’. I do it frequently.
I wouldn’t consider myself an authority on grammar, but I do teach it for a living. Most of the ‘mistakes’ I’ve made are mistakes of choice (I am aware there’s a dangling modifier about two-thirds of the way through my first book, and I need to find and fix it!). I’ve tried to create a narrative voice that sounds like a story, rather than a work of literature. I’m not sure I could create literature even if I wanted to (‘never end a sentence with a preposition’). Mine are popcorn stories; they’re beach books and stormy weather sagas.
When I first encountered Stephen King’s work in middle school, I was instantly enthralled. As I grew older, I got a bit jaded. I became tired of his one-word sentences and paragraphs that seemed to defy everything I’d been taught. But I continued to mature, and now I adore him again. Stephen King writes with unmistakable voice and panache. And, after all, why should he follow rules that Joyce and Faulkner flout?
But on top of all this, I come from the stage. One of my readers observed that my work is very dialogue-heavy. Mea culpa. What else would you expect from a Shakespearean actor and former stand-up comic?
My work will never be analyzed in The New Yorker. And I’m okay with that. I just want to tell a ripping good yarn.
I wouldn’t consider myself an authority on grammar, but I do teach it for a living. Most of the ‘mistakes’ I’ve made are mistakes of choice (I am aware there’s a dangling modifier about two-thirds of the way through my first book, and I need to find and fix it!). I’ve tried to create a narrative voice that sounds like a story, rather than a work of literature. I’m not sure I could create literature even if I wanted to (‘never end a sentence with a preposition’). Mine are popcorn stories; they’re beach books and stormy weather sagas.
When I first encountered Stephen King’s work in middle school, I was instantly enthralled. As I grew older, I got a bit jaded. I became tired of his one-word sentences and paragraphs that seemed to defy everything I’d been taught. But I continued to mature, and now I adore him again. Stephen King writes with unmistakable voice and panache. And, after all, why should he follow rules that Joyce and Faulkner flout?
But on top of all this, I come from the stage. One of my readers observed that my work is very dialogue-heavy. Mea culpa. What else would you expect from a Shakespearean actor and former stand-up comic?
My work will never be analyzed in The New Yorker. And I’m okay with that. I just want to tell a ripping good yarn.
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