"You know … there's something thrilling in the sound of a sword clearing its sheath. Some indefinable something in the sound that makes your heart leap, and your gut clench, and sets every nerve in your body to tingling. You can tell more from that sound than you can from the fight itself. Intentions can be hidden behind feints and bluffs, emotions can be mimicked or denied through discipline and pattern, moves and actions can be disguised as other moves and actions which leave you unaware. But that first metallic shing … that's what tells you everything you'll ever need to know, about yourself and about your opponent.
Is it a ring or a hiss?
Does it snarl along the edge or does it whisper from its casing?
Is it honest?
That's an odd thought, I suppose, that a sound – let alone a sound associated with a weapon – can be honest, but I hold to it, and as I pull the Master Sword up and out of its pedestal, and that metallic singing rings in my head and the world turns to blue around me for that single, eternal instant it makes perfect sense.
The sound is honest.
This sword is honest.
In a world gone crazy, this much at least I can trust."
Do you see what I mean?
This writer has an amazing writing voice, and she takes awesome advantage of the use of first person. Sometimes with doing writing counseling, when people are writing in first person but making it sound like third person except for the pronouns, I use this passage to illustrate the things you can do with first person.
The way it's written, you can just feel his personality in the style of narration. There's this conversational tone established with the reader that gives you a taste of intimacy. I've seen so many people try that conversational first person, but nooot handle it well and not using it to the advantage of the writing. This author, though, she does it beautifully, taking advantage of the first person viewpoint and the intimate tone to pack a harder punch. "You know...there's something thrilling in the sound of a sword clearing its sheath." Agh, I just love it!
I love how she handles the thing about "an honest sound." There's not a trace of 'author apology' sneaking in, she just writes the word that comes to mind and lets it make sense or not make sense to whoever reads it. It's more important to her to be true to the story than to get embarrassed and try to explain away her word choice, or choose an adjective with a more transparent application! That, my friends, is what you call "writer's integrity."
Le sigh! This is one of those passages that just inspires me. It gives me this weird tickle in my throat, like I'm almost going to giggle (but laced with more excitement and intensity than just a giggle), and just makes me want to write! (until I get into my self-defeating mental circle of "but I can't write well enough, but I'm not good enough," which results in the OPPOSITE of "writer's integrity," btw)
Anyway. I have quite the amalgam of favorite passages bouncing around in my head, all admired and inspiring for different reasons, but this is definitely one of them, and an awesome one at that.
(kfineI'lljustadmitmynerdinessforthoseofyouwhohaven'tfigureditoutandtellyouit'safanfictionbasedonavideogamethatIlove)
Credit where credit is due - the writer's called "Rose Zemlya" and the story is "Legend of Zelda: Reconciliation." Link (haha) to the story here! http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1755123/1/Legend_of_Zelda_Reconciliation
Off to read and maybe write,
Lauren
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