Craft and Voice, Structure and Attitude, Effect and Affect
Posted: July 31st, 2011, 1:57 pm
Writing possesses a most painfully elusive quality, one that matters most for successful publication's sake. It evaded me for the longest time, not that I'm a master of it yet, only that I satisfactorily identified it recently. That is, a synthesis of craft and voice that does what literature does best of all mediums: Reports a most individual, personally intimate, immediate, emotionally stimulating and satisfying other-world experience to transport readers away from their humdrum, everyday grinds.
Artful craft and voice might make up for mechanical style shortcomings, but never the other way around. Mechanically virtuous narratives have nothing, per se, improper about them. However, they're prone to flat affect. The principle purpose of plot is to stimulate emotion. That and plot's other prima facie purpose, an organizing principle reflecting and imitating real-world existence, is all there is demanding plot's centrality to narrative arts. Though some writers wish plot's crippling tyrrany were overthrown, what then would replace plot's organizing and emotional stimulation powers? I don't care to know. Perhaps that's a thought exercise for another discussion.
Voice in its simplest essence is attitude toward a theme. Be the attitude subjective or objective, disapproving or approving, causative or affective, attitude is the emotional facet of voice. The much maligned parts of speech, adverbs and adjectives serve to express emotional commentary, not solely, but appreciably.
Say, My precious love is a thorny dewberry blossom. Adjectives there express the intended clashing emotions. Or, Aleweather Makeready has an emotionally flat affect. Adverb emotionally there is superfluous, tautological. Affect means emotion. The words flat affect by themselves say what's intended, if targeted readers understand affect in that context means emotion.
Typically, affect is a verb, not a noun or adjective. Typically, there, is a sentence adverb, thus the comma following it, that says oftentimes but not always. An adverb different than typically might have more or less affect and effect. Eliding typically altogether conjures a false declaration that defies logic, but might create a voice influence from posing a purported truth that's open to interpretation; in other words, a subjective declaration.
It ought to be apparent from the above that plot, as pertains to craft, and attitude, as pertains to voice, while distinguishably separate, are indivisible. Although one follows from the other, in a poet's journey as well as in function, separating them is, I expect, part of the reason for and difficulty of realizing their commingled nature while writing or reading.
Plot's causation facet, for instance, upsetting emotional equilibrium and escalating emotional disequilibrium throughout a narrative means reporting emotionally stimulated characters in settings with emotionally stimulating causal situations. In order for readers to care about the characters, there must be causation, and causation must flow in a logical, emotional, and timely progression.
Plot's tension facet then, in order for readers to build rapport with characters and their dilemmas, they must empathize with them and be curious about what will happen to them.
Plot's antagonism facet then, in order for there to be causation and empathy and curiosity, there must be purpose and complication in clashing contention. It is voice's attitude facet that reports what's of consequence causally, empathy-wise and curiosity-wise, and contentiously.
Frankly, the majority of struggling projects I evaluate lack most for attitude and affect due to plot and, in turn, voice shortcomings. Not just structure and attitude shortcomings, more so, lack of appreciation for the emotional context or subtext of the reported situations is what's impeding their reports' impacts. I don't believe emotional context is lacking in the creative visions, just the emotional context is hard to develop from the creative vision because emotional context is not so consciously realized as might best be desired, and, consequently, oftentimes, not sufficiently fully-realized on the page for best dramatic effect and affect.
Artful craft and voice might make up for mechanical style shortcomings, but never the other way around. Mechanically virtuous narratives have nothing, per se, improper about them. However, they're prone to flat affect. The principle purpose of plot is to stimulate emotion. That and plot's other prima facie purpose, an organizing principle reflecting and imitating real-world existence, is all there is demanding plot's centrality to narrative arts. Though some writers wish plot's crippling tyrrany were overthrown, what then would replace plot's organizing and emotional stimulation powers? I don't care to know. Perhaps that's a thought exercise for another discussion.
Voice in its simplest essence is attitude toward a theme. Be the attitude subjective or objective, disapproving or approving, causative or affective, attitude is the emotional facet of voice. The much maligned parts of speech, adverbs and adjectives serve to express emotional commentary, not solely, but appreciably.
Say, My precious love is a thorny dewberry blossom. Adjectives there express the intended clashing emotions. Or, Aleweather Makeready has an emotionally flat affect. Adverb emotionally there is superfluous, tautological. Affect means emotion. The words flat affect by themselves say what's intended, if targeted readers understand affect in that context means emotion.
Typically, affect is a verb, not a noun or adjective. Typically, there, is a sentence adverb, thus the comma following it, that says oftentimes but not always. An adverb different than typically might have more or less affect and effect. Eliding typically altogether conjures a false declaration that defies logic, but might create a voice influence from posing a purported truth that's open to interpretation; in other words, a subjective declaration.
It ought to be apparent from the above that plot, as pertains to craft, and attitude, as pertains to voice, while distinguishably separate, are indivisible. Although one follows from the other, in a poet's journey as well as in function, separating them is, I expect, part of the reason for and difficulty of realizing their commingled nature while writing or reading.
Plot's causation facet, for instance, upsetting emotional equilibrium and escalating emotional disequilibrium throughout a narrative means reporting emotionally stimulated characters in settings with emotionally stimulating causal situations. In order for readers to care about the characters, there must be causation, and causation must flow in a logical, emotional, and timely progression.
Plot's tension facet then, in order for readers to build rapport with characters and their dilemmas, they must empathize with them and be curious about what will happen to them.
Plot's antagonism facet then, in order for there to be causation and empathy and curiosity, there must be purpose and complication in clashing contention. It is voice's attitude facet that reports what's of consequence causally, empathy-wise and curiosity-wise, and contentiously.
Frankly, the majority of struggling projects I evaluate lack most for attitude and affect due to plot and, in turn, voice shortcomings. Not just structure and attitude shortcomings, more so, lack of appreciation for the emotional context or subtext of the reported situations is what's impeding their reports' impacts. I don't believe emotional context is lacking in the creative visions, just the emotional context is hard to develop from the creative vision because emotional context is not so consciously realized as might best be desired, and, consequently, oftentimes, not sufficiently fully-realized on the page for best dramatic effect and affect.
