6 Writers Who Have Mastered Style
One of my favorite BookTube creators is Liene’s Library. I stumbled across her channel a year or more ago and have come to rely on her reviews and recommendations. I agree so much with her assessments and share a lot of her tastes in genre fiction, and have found a few new-to-me authors through her videos. Last week she posted a video wherein she breaks down how she views and critiques “prose” as a concept and then listed her favorite prose stylists. It inspired me to think of my own favorite prose stylists, so here they are!
But first: an explanation.
Prose is a more formal term for what is meant when people refer to an author’s “voice” or “style”. It is not how someone writes, but rather the way they write. It encompasses grammar (vocabulary and syntax) and some elements of subject matter (fictional and non), and it goes beyond the writing itself, as far as to the feelings evoked in the reader. Examining prose requires us to step back and see the forest for the trees.
In her video, Liene remarks that grading an author on their prose is difficult because it becomes a strong matter of taste. She notes that her favorite prose styles tend to be: lyrical, artful, lush, poignant, and/or exhibit effective verisimilitude, and explains a bit on what brings her to notice them while reading. I think my top style elements are:
Clear: There is an idea that gets bandied about in writing advice that “good prose is invisible.” That is not what I mean when I say good prose is “clear”. When I say clear, I am referring to clarity of vision. As a reader, do I feel like I understand what the author is trying to say? In Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules for Good Writing he states, “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” He doesn’t mean cutting every sentence to the barest bones possible (I always think of Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea when I think about the most boring, simplest sentences ever written, and I won’t apologize for saying that). He means that the way that he writes something shouldn’t get in the way of what he’s trying to say. And that’s what I mean by clarity.
Clever: If I want to read straight facts I will read the news (kidding, but also not really). When I’m reading books, I want to feel something. When I say something is clever, it means it has sparked something in me. Perhaps it’s something I didn’t know before, or the author has put words together in a way that, while surprising to come across in the reading, should still not be surprising in a “Huh, I’ve never heard two humans interact in this way before,” kind of way. Cleverness is satisfying. Clever prose has a uniqueness that hits you right.
Transporting: This might be the most singular to my favorite aspects of good prose, but my favorite books make me feel transported. When I turn the page my mind clicks into gear and we’re both off on a ride together. While subject matter and story structure go a long way to capturing my interest and making a reader feel brought into the world of the book, transportive prose is the lynchpin. Does the author’s voice complement what they are writing?
And now for a few of my favorite prose stylists! These are in no particular order and this is by no means an exhaustive list. Given enough time I could fill a whole book just talking about my favorite prose writers. But I wanted to capture a little variety of genres and styles for the purposes of this post, so without further ado…
Madeline Miller. This one should come as no surprise, judging by her rise to the top of BookTok. I believe Miller is what some people call a “voicey” author, by which they mean she has a unique and recognizable style to her writing that is highly visible. She takes a lyrical and poetic touch to her work, crafting heart wrenching turns of phrase and beautiful imagery on every page. As soon as I read Circe I moved it to my Favorite shelf, is how much I like Madeline Miller. Also I met her once at a book talk and she was super nice, but that’s totally separate ;) I’m currently reading The Song of Achilles, and devoured Galatea earlier this year, and I can attest that her voice is incredibly strong and recognizable across her body of work.
Stephen King. I don’t think it’s a surprise that one of the world’s bestselling authors is actually pretty good at his job. King’s writing gets the most attention for its subject matter (horror and thriller being two consistently popular genres) but the writing of the books themselves outdoes so many of his fellow horror and thriller writers. One of the things I first noticed, back when I read Cujo as a wee tyke (sixth grade, actually, which might qualify as a tyke when it comes to reading horror?), was how King shifts between the voice of the narrator and the voice of each character. He does this on a productivity level that is still widely unheard of in publishing across dozens and dozens of books—every character is entirely different by way of his prose style. Every single one. King is a master of characterization and it makes his books entirely captivating.
Jane Austen. If you eschew all classic literature… Ok, good for you, you can skip this entry in the list. I, personally, find a lot to enjoy or appreciate in older literature, and Jane Austen is a favorite among favorites. Her prose style is simultaneously evocative of her contemporaries and yet so far ahead of her time it’s almost scary. Her ability to portray and comment on her subjects simultaneously is unmatched for incisiveness, brevity, and subtlety. Plenty of people read four of the six completed Austen novels, so I’m going to recommend the fifth actually for some of her greatest commentary: Northanger Abbey. Mansfield Park I believe can legitimately be skipped. My critiques on that novel deserve an entire post of their own.
Hilary Mantel. Alright, now I’m heading into territory where I become incoherent when praising an author’s prose… Mantel is simply one of the best writers out there. Whether she’s writing history, fiction, essays, memoirs, her voice is rich and nuanced. I feel smarter every time I read a piece by Mantel. She has also written for the stage, and I think important to understanding her writing is knowing that she has an ear for writing. She hears it and sees it and, quite obviously, feels it. I’m going to recommend Wolf Hall because of course. But also I really, really want to spread the good word of Mantel Pieces, which collects essays that she wrote about current events, literature, and historic analyses and highlights her intense and profound interest in and ability to portray society and the human condition.
Patrick O’Brian. This looks like a Dad Book, you guys, but stay with me! (Plus, if you’re reading this blog, you probably already also enjoy Dad Books, let’s be real) This guy did not live during the English Regency period, but you would not know it from his writing. Do not @ me with the “But on Page this of That Book he incorporates completely anachronistic shipbuilding techniques…” What did I say about “forest for the trees,” people?! In terms of his style, his voice, he brings the reader into the world of his novels. He evokes the style of Regency writers as well as the hallmarks of Regency writers that many people today love to employ in Regency romances, even if they’re not necessarily accurate to the period—remember, it’s the feeling of being transported that is important to me, here. And it’s a real skill to be able to do this, not to be taken likely as mimicry. I recommend, seriously, jumping straight into the third book in his Aubrey/Maturin series with HMS Surprise.
Pat Conroy. This one’s a departure, I think, from the rest of this list. Obviously, I favor historical fiction in my reading, and Pat Conroy is solidly in the contemporary/literary fiction broad genre. But as I always say, I like to read a little of everything, and when I vacation in the Carolinas I like to take Pat Conroy with me to give me a better sense of place. He is far and away a transportive writer, writing in the style of many of his Southern contemporaries, but he, too, stands above them for sheerly gorgeous turns of phrase. He is also an incredibly humane writer (and I could do an entirely separate post on humane vs. nihilism in literary themes) whose verbosity springs from his all-consuming interest in humanity and exploring how people communicate with one another. I’m recommending South of Broad as an interesting ensemble story about a group of friends coming of age in Charleston, South Carolina. The Prince of Tides is probably his best known work, but I must advise checking out reviews or trigger warnings due to the intense subject matter there.
I wanted to pull quotes for all of these authors, by the way, but I was having such a hard time picking out my favorites from all the many options that I went with the whole novel recommendations instead.