word painting | CW Hawes

The Sketch

My love affair with the sketch goes back many years to my reading of Adventures in Contentment by David Grayson.

At first puzzled by the seeming lack of direction the author took in his book, I suddenly realized the “novel” I was reading was, in fact, a collection of vignettes, or sketches, and each one produced a mood of contentment.

I was enthralled with the skill of the author in making each chapter a chance for us to become satisfied with life.

From the Adventures, I went on to discover other writers of sketches: such as Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Anthony Trollope.

A sketch is at base a mood evoking descriptive piece of writing.

Perhaps we can think of it as the verbal equivalent of the musical tone poem. Or as a painting in words.

One of the best discussions of the form I’ve found is in a blog post from 2007 on the Siris blog, simply entitled “Literary Sketch”. Do check it out.

[NB: The link to the Hawthorne sketch is broken. Here is a link to “A Night Scene”: https://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/nh/ans.html — and don’t miss the link in the word “This” in the Siris blog post.]

The sketch is a literary form that has no plot to it, although there may be movement in the piece. Through the description of the scene, a mood is evoked and that is its strength: to use the power of words to evoke feeling and to perhaps stir us to our very core.

There is a Japanese literary form developed by Basho called haibun, a linking form of prose and haiku, which is very similar to the sketch.

Basho composed his travel journals in haibun, as well as writing stand alone atmospheric pieces and essays in the form. I love haibun. It is a brilliant dance of prose and poetry.

Sketches were very popular in the 1800s. They were like a photograph, as it were, that let the reader participate in a scene or an activity.

Writers, if you haven’t tried your hand at the sketch I encourage you to do so. They make excellent blogposts. Short, emotive pieces that will leave your readers happy, sad, motivated — however you want them to feel. And it that feeling is the power of the writing. Perhaps more powerful than if you just dumped a bunch of facts or opinions on them.

Readers, sketches are great for our busy lives. They are usually short. They can be read quickly and will leave you with a verbal picture of someplace you’ve never been and you get to share the feelings of the author.

If you haven’t tried the sketch, either writing one or reading one, I encourage you to do so. A well written sketch is prose poetry at its finest.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with a bestselling novel. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes

Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries on Amazon!

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!

Share This!

A Matter of Style

My whole career is based on the idea that the formula doesn’t matter, the thing that counts is what you do with the formula; that is to say, it is a matter of style. —Raymond Chandler

I’d seen Raymond Chandler’s name, and that of his most noted creation, Philip Marlowe, around for decades before, I actually read anything from Chandler’s pen.

All I can say is that I’m glad I made Mr. Chandler’s acquaintance.

The first story I read was Chandler’s first published story, “Blackmailer’s Don’t Shoot”, back in February 2018. However, over a year passed before I picked up another Chandler story. That story was “Killer in the Rain”, which I read this past Christmas Day. I followed it up with “The Curtain” on the third of January of this year, and six days later finished The Big Sleep, which is a fix-up novel put together from “Killer” and “Curtain”.

What captured my attention and stirred my interest in Chandler is his style. Quite simply put: it is beautiful. Almost poetic, it is perhaps the most lyrical prose I’ve read. Murder mysteries elevated to the level of literary fiction.

And this is directly related to Chandler’s approach to the art of storytelling. He wasn’t overly interested in the plot. Chandler strove to give the reader interesting characters with believable behaviors, and an emotively moving atmosphere.

What HP Lovecraft emphasized as most important for supernatural horror, the atmosphere of the story, Raymond Chandler also emphasized for the murder mystery. Characters and atmosphere — not plot — carry the day.

Erle Stanley Gardner wrote that the problem with the murder mystery was the utter simplicity of the plot.

A murders B, but the police think it’s C, until the detective gets C off the hook, and pins the deed on A.

The simplicity of the murder mystery plot is undoubtedly what drove Chandler to emphasize characterization and atmosphere over plot.

When I read Chandler, I’m caught up in the mood of the story that the atmosphere produces. I’m caught up in the dilemmas of the very lifelike characters. I’m sucked into the story by the descriptions of the people and places.

Raymond Chandler was an artist using words instead of paint and brush.

As a writer, I am inspired by what he did with the written word. Chandler showed writers and continues to show writers that the most formulaic of genres can be turned into glorious art. That we writers can transcend the confines of our genres and produce not only entertainment, but timeless literature.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading (and great writing)!

Share This!