Warp and Weft

Among the many things which come together to create a good piece of writing (confidence, originality, authenticity, grammar) is something which is often neglected, and that is texture.  It's one of the additional extras which mark out flair from mere competence and there are a number of ways of achieving it.

Think in terms of weaving: you have the warp going in one direction and the weft going at ninety degrees to it and the interlocking of the two is what creates the material you are making.  It's the same with writing -- if everything is flowing in the same direction, you end up with not much texture to your work and consequently very little structural tension (which is a little bit different from the tension arising from plot - what happens next?)

It's easier to achieve than you may think and can be quite fun to do. Try  contrasting the style of your writing with the subject you are describing.  For example, if you are working on a dark piece about suspicion or mistrust, experiment with writing about it in a light-hearted, comic style.  That way the threads of your narrative are working against each other, creating tension.  If you want an idea of what I mean, read WH Auden's poem about Miss Gee. it's a heartbreaking ballad about a lonely and sick woman, but it is written in a bright and brittle tone with bouncy rhymes and rhythms, so that the form of the writing counterpoints and enhances the sadness of what Auden is writing about.

SMALL PRESS ALERT

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