Just a note on my reading "All the Pretty Horses" by Cormac McCarthy.

I recently took an excellent short course on "Self-Editing" in which the instructor talked about many aspects of what goes into writing including rhythm (she gave examples of various kinds of music and the moods they invoke). "So it is with writing," she said, and proceeded to give examples of rhythm in writing by various authors.

Cromac McCarthy's book All the Pretty Horses is one of her favorites for rythm. When she said it is almost biblical in style I had to read it since that tends to be my style. (Had no idea what the story was about). As I expected while reading it and listening to it, I was wowed the rhythm of his words whether he was portraying action, mood or scene.

What I wasn't expecting was the great way he lets us understand each character through the way they talk, by the words that come out of their mouths--a tough technique for me.

I am going to try talking to my characters and let them talk to me out loud, even as I put the words down on paper. Perhaps that will help get their 'character' into their words