Well, hello everyone! It's Thursday night and whether your weather is breezy, balmy, bitter or merely bracing, it's time to get cozy and think/talk/type about writing.
Three weeks into the semester, and the grading is already piling on - I've just finished grading the first set of lab reports, and oh! The fragments - the unreferenced pronouns - the desperate repetitions of terms sans enlightening context. My brain feels like mush, and it is far too early in the semester for such wobbliness.
Tonight, let's investigate meaningful repetitions, shall we? Follow me below the fold, and we'll investigate what Ms. Le Guin has to say about repetition. Excerpts are from chapter four of Steering the Craft.
Again, I am inclined to fault journalists and schoolteachers, however well meaning, for declaring it a sin to say the same word twice, driving people to the thesaurus in desperate searches for far-fetched substitutes. (snip)
But to make a rule "never use the same word twice in one paragraph" or to state flatly that repetition is to be avoided, is to throw away one of the most valuable tool of narrative prose. Repetition of words, of phrases, of images; repetition of things said; near-repetition of events; echoes, reflections, variations: from the grandmother telling a folk tale to the most sophisticated novelist, all narrators use these devices, and the skillful use of them is a very great part of the power of prose. Ursula K. Le Guin
She goes on to discuss repetition as humor, as well as syntactical repetition - repeating sentence structures; and structural repetition - repetitions that act as foreshadowing to later events.
What sorts of repetition do you aim for in your writing? What sorts of accidental repetitions or redundancies sneak into your writing and get slashed in the editing?
Tonight's challenge, courtesy of Steering the Craft:
Write a paragraph that includes at least three repetitions of a noun, verb, or adjective (a noticeable word, not an invisible one like "was", "said" or "did"). Try to stay under 150 words.
If you need a prompt, try one of these:
James Bunns and his unfortunately named girlfriend keep hearing a strange sound.
The Callow Youth and Stout Companion are mishearing one another.
The Archduke of Antipasto is feeling prickly about sea urchins.
Arch-rivals Belinda and Adelaide are in shock: Lord Posthlewaite-Praxley (pronounced Puppy) has announced his engagement to Lady Cassandra Goughly (pronounced Guppy).
The Write On! timeslot has changed to Thurs 7 pm ET (4 pm Pacific) for the winter.
Before signing a contract with any agent or publisher, please be sure to check them out on Preditors and Editors, Absolute Write and/or Writer Beware.