Fear in Writing: Writing that lasts

Today in Literary History

Today in Literary History...December 14, 1907: Rudyard Kipling receives the Nobel prize for literature, the first English-language writer to do so.ud

Friday, May 20, 2011

Writing that lasts

"Mrs. Price Ridley wears what, I believe, are known as 'Hats for Matrons'...They perch easily on a superstructure of hair and are somewhat overweighted with large bows of ribbon."
~The Murder at the Vicarage, Chap. 13, Agatha Christie

I read this passage last night and it just struck me as hilarious!  "A superstructure of hair!"  What an image!  And I can see it so clearly...Even in this age when hats aren't common, I can still picture the kind of woman Christie is describing, and the kind of hat she means.

Writing a description that makes a reader react decade after decade is no easy task.  We all know Christie is the Mistress of Mystery, but there are many authors gifted in the way of the pen.  I encourage you to share any phrases or passages that strike you when you're reading.  We can only learn from the descriptions that stay with us.

Read any lately?

5 comments:

  1. Sybille Bedford, a contemporary of Christie, describing someone in her first novel, 'A Legacy': "My mother once said that everything about Edu was impersonation: that his passion was not cards, but seeing himself at cards."
    I don't know why but I love this...

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  2. "Her face looked ashen against the orange prison garb; her long chestnut hair already dulled and streaked with gray." I have no idea where this came from but I wrote it down some time ago.
    Ann

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  3. "Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space, listen..." ~Douglas Adams

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  4. I can't remember anything, however, Peter Mayle has a way with words that is just mind-boggling. His descriptions are so avant garde that I just read in awe.

    Hope things are going well with you! I know, it's been an age.

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  5. What fantastic passages! I am so impressed that you all actually shared some! You make me want to explore and write down even more.

    Hopefully people will be quoting us someday!

    Michele

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