Writing: Just The Right Word

     I know I said I was through with posts about the craft of writing, but something I read today triggered a thought I'd like to share with my readers.


     Writers chafe under the burden of "rules," written and unwritten, but until we're published we follow them, hoping they hold the magic key to unlock the publishing contract we're all seeking. But after an author is well-known, it seems that they can sometimes ignore those rules. Most of the time it doesn't seem to matter. Every once in a while, it does.


     Here's a paragraph from a book by one of my absolute favorite authors, the late Robert B. Parker. Dr. Parker had an earned PhD from Boston University in English literature. His work is peppered with references to the classics, and he showed a fantastic command of the English language. Yet in this paragraph, he broke one of the unwritten rules preached to writers. See if you can find it before I tell you at the end of this post. And does it matter?

“But the lights from the clam shack made dark crystal patterns out of the rain that sluiced on the windshield, and the steady sound of the rain made the dark interior of the car seem like the perfect refuge.” From Sudden Mischief by Robert B. Parker (G P Putnam’s Sons).

Reads pretty well, doesn't it? Spenser, the protagonist, and his companion, Susan, are sitting in a parked car, in the dark, in view of the ocean, eating fried clams from a nearby drive-in. You can almost hear the rain beating on the car roof, imagine the waves out there in the darkness. Does it matter that he used "dark" twice in the same sentence? Rules say it does. Readers say, not really.

I was always taught to steer clear of sentences that read like this: In the corner was a man with a moustache wearing a tweed sports jacket. A comma or reworking the sentence would take away the mental image of facial hair clad in a jacket. But in re-reading some of Parker's novels, I find instances where he blithely plunges on after writing sentences just like that. I guess if you're a multi-published author, especially with a PhD in English literature, you can do it.

 Writers, have you seen instances where authors break a rule--written or unwritten--and get away with it? And do you sometimes wonder, "Why can they do that and still get published, while I'm still looking for a contract?" I'd love to hear some opinions. 

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