Saturday, May 10, 2025
Time: 11:20 AM
Song: Lithium
Artist: Nirvana
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s on shuffle while reading opening pages of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road.”
Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/2YodwKJnbPyNKe8XXSE9V7?si=614ca32f61574585
During our last Write On meeting, we discussed an excerpt from Stephen King’s book “On Writing.” The section is about a writer’s “toolbox,” and that the first two things that need be in the toolbox are vocabulary and grammar.
King doesn’t think it’s necessary and certainly isn’t always appropriate to show off one’s vocabulary depth, instead it’s important to choose the words that suit the story best.
He provides a few examples. He used a section from Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” as an example of someone using “big” words and complex sentences to create a scene. He contrasts that with a section from Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” where the writer uses almost all one-syllable words in a paragraph.
I had just read “The Grapes of Wrath” last year, and remember that the language used greatly reflects the bleak outlook for Tom Joad and his family as they travel west. The simple words contrast the complex times where migrants are being falsely sold dreams of working on farms out west, only to discover there are more people than there are jobs available, allowing the owners to set lower and lower wages.
I have never read “Blood Meridian,” but I have read McCarthy’s “The Road.” I remember that being bleak, and much like “The Grapes of Wrath,” it focuses on weary travelers clinging to the hope of salvation. This time instead of heading west, they are going south. Instead of fleeing the catastrophe of the dust bowl, the main characters – the man and the boy – are fleeing some sort of nuclear apocalypse.
It’s been years since reading the “The Road” so, I thought it’d be a good one to read at our next “Craft Conversation” at the beginning of June. I read the first ten pages with music playing, and noticed several different stylistic choices that will make for a good conversation.
It’s a bleak text, but I am so happy.
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