I'll add some more thoughts about prose later, but for now, I'm going to address Justin's question about
The Sanctity of the Clause (dun-dun-DUNNNNN...)
The idea behind this is to give structure to your prose, to help lead the audience along so they know where you're heading and keep up. It's about setting off the clauses so people can follow you. I have difficulty in explaining it, so instead I will just show you an example of what I do.
I used to read a lot of poetry when I was in high school, and I loved ee cummings and those kind of poets. I loved how the way they used the page to set off the ideas. I don't know if they meant to direct how I was to read it aloud, but it did affect me, I tended to give space / air / breath around the lines.
I do the same thing with long prose lines or speeches. I write them out as a sort of modern poem, arranging the clauses on the page. I sort of use a hierarchical system similar to an outline, in that if something is indented farther in than the line above it, it is subservient to the line above it. See? I have trouble writing about it. Let's read some Mrs. Quickly from Merry Wives and pray the formatting holds when I publish. :)
[Wall-o-text version:]
Marry, this is the short and the long of it: you have brought her into such a canaries as ’tis wonderful. The best courtier of them all (when the court lay at Windsor) could never have brought her to such a canary; yet there has been knights, and lords, and gentlemen, with their coaches; I warrant you, coach after coach, letter after letter, gift after gift; smelling so sweetly, all musk, and so rushling, I warrant you, in silk and gold, and in such alligant terms, and in such wine and sugar of the best, and the fairest, that would have won any woman’s heart; and I warrant you, they could never get an eye-wink of her. I had myself twenty angels given me this morning, but I defy all angels (in any such sort, as they say) but in the way of honesty; and I warrant you, they could never get her so much as sip on a cup with the proudest of them all, and yet there has been earls, nay (which is more) pensioners, but I warrant you all is one with her.
[My version, operatives in bold:]
Marry,
this is the short and the long of it:
you have brought her into such a canaries
as ’tis wonderful.
The best courtier of them all
(when the court lay at Windsor)
could never have brought her to such a canary;
yet there has been knights,
and lords,
and gentlemen,
with their coaches; I warrant you, coach after coach,
letter after letter,
gift after gift;
smelling so sweetly,
all musk, and so rushling,
I warrant you,
in silk and gold,
and in such alligant terms,
and in such wine and sugar
of the best,
and the fairest,
that would have won any woman’s heart;
and I warrant you, they could never get an eye-wink of her.
I had myself twenty angels given me this morning,
but I defy all angels
(in any such sort, as they say)
but in the way of honesty;
and I warrant you, they could never get her so much as sip on a cup
with the proudest of them all,
and yet there has been earls,
nay
(which is more)
pensioners,
but I warrant you all is one with her.
Make sense? I enabled comments for the page, feel free to ask questions.
