Going with the Grain

 On our recent travels my eye was caught by a small carving of a face on a mediaeval building in a Burgundy backwater.

The colour is visible, in spite of all the years which have passed, and the features and character are clearly discernible.  What I like about it is the way that the grain of the wood has become part of the image -- the texture of the painting is an integral part of the face.

It's a bit like that with writing: the texture of the words you choose - some guttural, some sibilant, some long, some short - plays a vital part in how your work will be experienced.  As Margaret Atwood once said, "Every poem has a texture of sound which is at least as important as the argument," but I think the same is equally true of good prose as well.

To put this to the test, write a poem or a piece of prose in which you concentrate on the texture and sound of the words that you are using, and how they relate with one another, working to see how  they compliment and contrast with each other.