"I can let a sentence go as a good and serviceable sentence without requiring it to wear a little saddle and win the Kentucky Derby. Books, in my world, are made primarily of good and serviceable sentences, surrounding a few polished jewels of prose–if you insist on polishing every single one, I suspect you get a book that appears to have been Bedazzled, or possibly Vajazzled if you’re writing that kind of book, and the glare becomes blinding, to say nothing of the smell of hot glue. Excuse me, my metaphor got out of hand, terribly sorry, will pay for all the damages…" --- Ursula Vernon (author of Dragonbreath, Digger, and more) on her blog
There's a lot to be said for "good and serviceable sentences." Those Derby winners show to better effect in a field of good and serviceable, at least in my opinion. They can nail the thought to the page, to the reader's imagination. But I don't think any one sentence should stand out so much from those around it (for either good or bad reasons) that it throws the reader out of the story and gets them thinking about that one sentence.
It's a balancing act, this writing gig.
thanks for reading; comments welcome
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