The compliment about “clean prose” meant a great deal to me. I wrote this novel with intentional simplicity, choosing each word with care to create a lyrical flow, one that invites emotion without overwhelming it. My goal was to let the story’s emotional undercurrents speak through clarity, rhythm, and resonance, rather than ornate language.
Like many writers, I’ve wrestled with the temptation to dress up my language. But I chose to follow the guidance of one of the greats.
As Stephen King writes in On Writing:
“One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you’re maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones… Use the first word that comes to your mind, if it is appropriate and colorful.”
In Sense of Home, every word was chosen not to impress, but to express. To stir emotions and resonance.
This novel was never meant to be flashy, only felt😌, and I’m grateful for this particular feedback because it tells me that, at least in this regard, the intention made its way into the reader’s experience.
Photo credit: Natalie Kaminsky 😉
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