Prose is a literary term that refers to the way something is written, including things like syntax, diction, rhythm, and formatting, among others. Another definition refers to a certain type of text that consists of sentences and paragraphs (refer to Figure 1). This paper will not be discussing this definition, but it will use it to establish the scope. Narrative prose is what you would call any novel or work of fiction that is written, which is the scope of this discussion. Prose may also be used in conversation when determining whether something is well or poorly written (corresponding to the first definition). However, fiction tends to break the rules in meaningful ways, so the word prose just refers to how well something reads in terms of flow and subjective beauty. This is the definition of prose that this paper will concern itself with.

Figure 1. Defines prose on an organizational level and its two subtypes, of which narrative will be the subject of this paper. https://mrgreen-liberty.weebly.com/poetry-drama--prose.html

Prose typically works subconsciously as the reader goes through the text to establish a wide array of things that help tell the story. It will also differ from author to author and will be the most important aspect in differentiating one author from another. It also functions as a form of organization when it comes to storytelling because it is broken into different levels, moving down a level with an increase in size. Basically, prose consists of four components that all contribute to the overall effect described above and throughout this paper: words, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. 

Words Establish All Types of Voice, Which Help Define the Point of View and Tense, Characterize and World-Build, Set the Tone, and Begin the Development of the Theme(s)

Words are the fundamental building block of writing, and therefore, have an immense job to do when it comes to the reading experience. Their main functions are to establish the four types of voices (narrative, authorial, character to be defined in their respective sections) that in turn help define the point of view and tense, characterize and world build, set the tone of the story, and begin the establishment of the theme(s).

The Narrative Voice Defines the Point of View and Tense, Establishes Most of the Tone, and does some World-Building

The most common voice in many fantasy stories is the narrative voice. The narrative voice makes up most of the text because it is what describes the setting, events, and actions that occur in the story (refer to Figure 2). This voice is what determines perspective, such as first person and third person, as well as tense, such as past or present. These aspects of the narrative voice are determined on a word level with the use of personal pronouns such as “I” (for the first-person perspective) or “he”/”she” (for the third-person perspective) when referring to the character whom the story is currently following. This distinction, alongside tense, is important because it makes the reader feel closer to or further from the characters and makes the story sound older as if it were a tale of a time long past, respectively.

Figure 2. A passage of text where the blue highlights display narrative voice. Sourced from my own work.

Not only does the narrative voice establish these things, but the narrator’s word choice often sets the tone of the story and allows you to determine who the narrator is if it’s not already clear. The narrator’s diction (word choice) plays into tone because they are specifically picking words that evoke a different image than another word with the same or a similar meaning. This image is how you see the events of the story and thus, how you consume it. There is also a rare narrator type called ‘The Unreliable Narrator’ which is purposefully deceptive about what they are describing.

The narrative has the largest hand in developing the world (assuming the story does not take place in a familiar environment such as Earth). Since narration is simply the description of events, along with it comes the description of the world in which those events take place, therefore the narrative voice does much of the world-building. 

The Authorial Voice Finishes the Tone and Begins the Development of the Theme(s)

Words also help establish the authorial voice which comprises many stylistic choices. More formally, it consists of stylistic choices that transcend a single work, but it can be established with actual words on the page as well (refer to Figure 3). However, on a word level, it has a similar function to the narrative voice in establishing tone. The authorial voice is sometimes difficult to discern from the narrative voice because they are not demarcated by anything like the character voice (with “” or italics in many cases). You can often identify the authorial voice by the feeling of being directly linked to the author. This is because they are often speaking directly to the reader when the authorial voice is present. In this communication their diction plays the same role as it does in the narration, to establish tone.

Figure 3. A passage of text where the red highlights display authorial voice. Sourced from my own work.

Beyond tone, however, the authorial voice also has a more direct link to the establishment of a theme(s), but this happens slowly and on a grander level. Many times, when the author deems it necessary to speak directly to the reader, it is because they have something important to say. In general, the things that the author is trying to say in their work tend to relate to the theme(s) they are working towards in the long run. Therefore, when the author speaks to you, they are likely developing a theme.

The Character Voice Does All of the Characterization Work and Caps off World-Building

Character voice is how a character would sound if they were real, and it is created through dialogue and thoughts (refer to Figure 4). A character’s perception (or lack thereof) of the world around them is what defines the reader’s knowledge and gets them engaged in the story. A character’s choice of words often tells us much more about them than they would divulge themselves. This is the case because they may speak to someone differently because of some contextual characteristics, describe something differently than another character does, or think something contrary to what they are saying.

Figure 4. A passage of text where the green highlights display character voice. Sourced from my own work. 

Like the narrative voice, characters also describe the world in their own way, providing a unique contribution to the development of the world. Seeing as characters can come from a vast array of backgrounds, especially in fantasy and science fiction, we get a lot of varied views of how the world looks or works depending on the number of perspective characters (characters whose perspective the author decides to write from). This, of course, is a form of characterization but it also builds the world in different ways depending on the current perspective. This phenomenon can provide the reader with a nuanced understanding of how the world treats different types of people.

Sentences Establish the Flow of Reading and the Pace of Events within the Story and Characterize the Speaker

Sentence variety comes about in a few ways that create a different reading flow and pace of events. This variety is produced by internal pauses and structuring (created by punctuation), as well as the length of the sentence which produces an external effect.

Punctuation Dictates the Flow of a Single Sentence and the Rhythm of Larger Chunks of Text as well as Characterize the Speaker

When viewing a sentence in isolation, we often see its parts separated by punctuation. Punctuation like commas, semicolons, and colons cause us to pause in the middle of reading which, in combination with other sentences, creates a unique rhythm. Sentences are composed of one or more clauses connected by said punctuation (refer to Figure 5), and different ideas being put into a single sentence is often done to force a correlation or create a similar effect. The rhythm of prose is often cited in the determination of how beautiful the author’s writing is as it sounds akin to a song.

Figure 5. The different types of sentences organized from top to bottom by increasing complexity. https://americanboard.org/Subjects/english/principles-of-composition-part-ii/

Punctuation can also delineate extra information (often done with commas and em dashes), which often characterizes the active speaker, whether that’s the narrator, the author, or a character. Any speaker including extra information could say something about their desire to be trusted or to explain more than necessary. The addition of extra information also changes the flow of the sentence, making it sound more human and less like a song.

Sentence Length Determines the Flow and Rhythm of Larger Chunks of Text and Can Emphasize Certain Points

When viewing sentences in a series, you can formulate a larger rhythm or flow for that portion. This can be done to indicate how events happen. If the words in those sentences match the same feel (short and choppy or long and monotonous) as the words within them, then it can be said that it was done to help emphasize the flow of events in the story. Affecting the pace at which the reader receives new information is effective in pushing the plot forward on a small scale.

Sentences vary in length and often break grammar and sentence structure rules to do so. Rules being broken is a sign of intention in any good piece of literature. Shorter sentences mean a higher concentration of periods which means more full stopping. With more stopping comes more time for thinking about what you read. This is how short sentences work to emphasize different things. Longer sentences tend to indicate longer, more drawn-out descriptions of the setting or narration of events because they allow for a well-connected string of ideas with less stopping. The author doesn’t want you to stop because you need more information than you’ve been given to understand what they are trying to explain.

You might also analyze the structure of a series of sentences. One common structure that is used to emphasize an idea or create a cyclical feeling for the reader is called parallel structure. Parallel structure is when any block of text, ranging from inside a sentence to the entire work, ends with the same text that it starts with. In doing this, the author creates a sense of inevitability because it is cyclical (more common for larger portions of text), and they could be emphasizing what is between or in those sentences (more common for smaller portions of text). There are many other ways to structure things but with this definition, they will be easier to find.

Paragraphs Nearly Finalize the Pace of Events, Contribute Further to Structure, and Continue the Emphasis of Ideas

The paragraph plays the biggest role in determining the flow of events and in the implementation of emphasis and structure. It does so by visually isolating ideas on a much larger scale than sentences can, and by separating whole blocks of related ideas from others (refer to Figure 6).

Figure 6. Red highlighting indicates lengthy, narrative-heavy paragraphs, blue highlighting indicates short, choppy paragraphs, and green indicates something between the two. This also displays the idea of structure, visual space, and diversity in length. Sourced from my own work.

Paragraphs do something that words and sentences cannot. They create a visual break in information that is often much more noticeable, especially when done with specific intent, than with any kind of punctuation. This is the case for two reasons; switching out of one paragraph and into the next often leaves space on the rest of the line you are leaving, and every paragraph begins with an indentation in creative writing. These two visual indicators help segment ideas in your brain and create a larger pause than a comma or even a period does. This pause serves the same function, being that it inserts breaks into the flow of reading which upsets or enhances the rhythm. The visual break also allows for the isolation of important ideas or phrases, especially smaller ones. This isolation serves the same purpose in emphasis that short sentences do.

Paragraphs also serve as organizers of ideas, like sentences. Longer paragraphs indicate more description or narration, whereas shorter ones tend to indicate more character-related information, fast-paced action, or dramatic moments. Paragraphs organize these ideas on a larger scale, allowing for a better segmentation of whole streams of thought rather than a small number of ideas. Again, paragraph sizes are determined with intention, and, thus, they should be analyzed in such a way that recognizes these common functions.

Chapters Finalize the Pace of Events and Contribute to the Theme(s)

Chapters (or other similar levels of organization such as journal entries or letters) are the final levels of organization in fictional literature. Fantasy literature tends to use chapters, but the type of story will determine or allow for different kinds of organization. The chapter has one main purpose and a much smaller secondary purpose; its primary purpose is to finalize the pacing of the plot, and its secondary purpose is to contribute to the theme(s).

The chapter, much like the paragraph, creates a visual break in the text and indicates the ending of a scene. This visual break allows for the same pause for thought that punctuation and paragraph breaks allow for just on a larger scale. This pause allows the reader to set the book down and come back later as well without fear of losing the tension or immersion of the scene as a whole. This level of organization, as I’ve already referenced, breaks the whole text into smaller digestible scenes that combine to form the plot. If you were to remove chapter breaks and combine them all you would get the plot. However, this forces horrible transitions between disconnected ideas and could completely break the immersion or tension that a prior scene set up. These breaks are what create the plot’s pacing. This pacing is different from a single scene’s pacing and relates less to sentences and paragraphs than scene pacing does.

If the author employs chapter titles that do not directly explain what will happen in the chapter, then there is most likely some thematic element being hinted at. Even without chapter titles, chapters/scenes can often be traced to the development of a single or multiple themes.

Prose Weaves Together Other Story Elements to Make the Text Human and Provide Nuance to the Surface Layers

Each component of prose functions mostly independently and pieces together another element of the story so that it is consumable to a human reader. Without good prose, a story struggles to establish itself because it is incapable of accurately developing characters, a world, and a plot, nullifying its emotional impact and theme(s).

Through the voices developed by words, prose gives the story perspective, tense, and characterization. All these components relate to the characters in the story. Characters function to make the story relatable and human and both narrative voice and character voice help to develop this by putting the characters into a frame of reference and establishing them and their changes. These words also provide the setting for the story, allowing it to interact with the characters and give the reader a perspective on where the story takes place, providing context for the characters’ experiences.

Sentences determine the readability of the text, allowing the reader to better consume it. They also put forward a pace of action for the plot, leading the reader through the same series of events that the characters experience, forming a relation to the characters via the plot.

Paragraphs and chapters give the text form and allow for breaks that promote thought and force the reader to separate some ideas from others. This is done deliberately to compartmentalize events, and thus character experiences, and thus different moments of emotional impact and relatability.

Without good prose, storytelling through text would be impossible, and its presence is indicative of a seasoned author with something meaningful to say. Without literature, the world would lack perspective, the ability to communicate complex concepts, and a deeper understanding of who we are as humans. In short, prose is the method with which humans develop a deeper understanding of themselves, each other, the world, and the human experience.

Reference List

https://mrgreen-liberty.weebly.com/poetry-drama--prose.html

This short resource provides a good definition of prose as a form of text, and, further, a breakdown of what sets narrative prose apart. This is the source of Figure 1.

https://www.septembercfawkes.com/2022/02/author-voice-vs-narrator-voice-vs.html

This article from a tenured editor and author provided some guidance as to how to define the different voices.

https://americanboard.org/Subjects/english/principles-of-composition-part-ii/

This webpage provided a good description of the different types of sentences and how they are different. This is the source of Figure 5.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

This is a foundation book in my understanding of writing narrative prose and much of what I know comes from this in conjunction with the source below.

Brandon Sanderson BYU Creative Writing Lectures by Brandon Sanderson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cf-qdZ7GbA&list=PLSH_xM-KC3Zv-79sVZTTj-YA6IAqh8qeQ

This is the second foundational piece of media that makes up my understanding of creative writing and narrative prose alongside reading and writing on my own of course.

Born to Serve by Cole Johnson

Used this for examples of different things related to voice and paragraph qualities. This is my own work and is currently unpublished.

Copyright 2024, Cole Johnson. All rights reserved.  May not be used (for any reason other than personal reading by the downloader), distributed, reproduced, or sold in whole or in part without express written permission by the author.