Monday, October 11, 2010

How to get cadence in your writing.

Good writing has a cadence - a cadence that cannot be found in simple speech. It can only be discovered after we put words down, and move them around, shuffle them until they read with a cadence. But, how does one learn where to move those words, so they have a cadence? The same way a musician learns to play any instrument. Practice. Some musicians are born with a good ear,they can play almost anything by ear. They instictively know cadence, but most people who play instruments must learn to play the old fashioned way, long hours, alone with nothing but practice. And at first those efforts do not produce anything that anyone is going to rave about. They share notes, and screaching noises until one day - usually years later - practice brings them to laud and acclaim. It's like that with most writers, we might be born with a love of words, but the beauty of cadence in our writing, comes only after years of practice.

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