Tuesday Muses: Roald Dahl and Laura Ingalls Wilder

Simple, confident writing stuns me. It's always good to remember that language doesn't have to complicated to be beautiful--and that the complexity can actually detract from the beauty.

Over the course of a seven-hour drive over the holiday weekend, we listened to the audio book versions of Farmer Boy and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Totally different writers, both absolutely brilliant. And they had at least one thing in common: they were masters of simplicity.

Here are a couple of my favorite lines:

Mother was short and plump and pretty. Her eyes were blue, and her brown hair was like a bird's smooth wings. 

(Farmer Boy)

(In that passage, I love how succinctly the narrator was able to convey the way Almanzo's mother looked, and the perfect simile at the end did double duty, associating Mrs. Wilder with something as smooth, soft, and joyful as a little, brown bird. You'll read a lot in writing guides about avoiding the word "was"--and justifiably, as amateur writers overuse it dreadfully. But in the hands of a master, it can be the perfect word.)

"He'll be perfectly safe," said Mr. Wonka, giggling slightly.

"He'll be chocolate fudge!" shrieked Mrs. Gloop.

"Never!" cried Mr. Wonka.

"Of course he will!" shrieked Mrs. Gloop.

"I wouldn't allow it!" cried Mr. Wonka.

"And why not?" shrieked Mrs. Gloop.

"Because the taste would be terrible," said Mr. Wonka. "Just imagine it! Augustus-flavored chocolate-coated Gloop! No one would buy it."

(Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

(This is such a great little bit of dialogue, and super-confident. Did you notice the way Dahl repeated the words "shrieked" and "cried" with the little sandwich-ends of "said" at either end? A very simple way to maintain the feeling of the exchange without unnecessary adverbs or descriptions getting in the way of the hilarious dialogue.)

What writers have inspired you lately?