Sunday, February 20, 2011

Poetic Prose

I love poetic prose, whether it's in a lyrical picture book or a YA novel. But it's hard to do without having the author's voice intrude, without sounding too "writerly."
Two authors, whose books I've read recently, have been able to pull it off beautifully. Both women are also poets.
Kim Fusco in The Wonder of Charlie Ann and
Pat Lowery Collins in Daughter of Winter.
Both books are historical novels, and I wonder if readers are more accepting of poetic language in the mouth of of a historical character. Daughter of Winter is written in third person, and I do think poetic prose is easier to carry off in third person.
But The Wonder of Charlie Ann is written in first person. Yet Charlie always sounds like a kid. The reader always believes in her voice. Remarkable!
I need to exercise, flex my own poetic voice--and not be so afraid of it.

2 comments:

Cheryl Kirk Noll said...

Did you read Sharon Creech's "The Wanderer?" It's written in two voices, one poetic.

Linda Crotta Brennan said...

No, I haven't. I'll have to put it on my to read list.