Shakespeare is perhaps the best example. There are certain lines from his writing that are instantly recognisable, even to people who have never read any of his work.
‘My horse, my horse, my kingdom for a horse!’ - Richard the Third, Act V.
’Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well.’ - Hamlet. (But it’s actually ‘Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him, Horatio’).
‘To be, or not to be, that is the question’ - also Hamlet.
Surprisingly, perhaps, the only Shakespeare I’ve ever read was ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (at school). In common with many others, I find Shakespeare hard going, the English of his time difficult to read. Yet I know those lines (even if I got one of them a little wrong!).
Few writers, if any, can match Shakespeare for memorable lines, but there are some who can leave words sticking in your head. Oscar Wilde, for example: ‘Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing’ (The Picture of Dorian Gray). Or - a personal favourite - ‘All we have to decide is what to do with the time given to us.’ (Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring).
I could go on, and no doubt you will have your own memorable lines. But, as an author, I naturally want to know, how’s it done. What makes a line, a phrase, stand out from the narrative and capture the readers attention? Because I want to write some of those myself!
Recently I read a new book, a first novel - ‘Braver’ by Deborah Jenkins. It’s a very impressive debut, a moving and powerful look at modern life and how, sometimes, we all need to be braver. I was given the opportunity to read a copy in advance of publication, and for me it ticked all the right boxes. It had good pace, smooth word-flow, well developed characters and an absorbing plot. But one thing that particularly stood out for me was that Jenkins has a definite talent for memorable lines. Here are some that I noted:
’London throbs with life, its steady pulse invigorated by caffeine and the desire to arrive.’
’…a loiterer in a world of runners.’
’… a bus at the junction quivering with impatience.’
’She looks like a jar of Marmite. Hazel is ambivalent about Marmite.’
’A train crouches on the opposite platform, spitting out tired commuters and eating teenagers in school uniform.’
And there were others. I often note phrases that catch my eye, but I rarely come across so many in one book!
Looking at all these different lines, from different authors in different times and circumstances, I tried to work out what they all had in common, what factors made them stand out.
One thing is a pithy summation of the story. ‘My horse, my horse, my kingdom for a horse’ is Richard the Third’s story in a nutshell (or at least, Shakespeare’s version of it!). A man who has worked and schemed and murdered to gain the crown is now ready to give it up for a horse - an escape. But it summarizes not only the story, but the lesson of the story: the folly of giving everything for an ultimately empty goal.
And the best lines all say something important, not just about the story but about life in general. ‘To be, or not to be’ puts into a few short words the dilemma that probably everyone faces at some point. What is worth striving for? What makes us who we are? How do we ‘be’?
Likewise, Tolkien’s quote reminds us of our responsibility to the here and now. In the middle of a fantasy about a different world, we are made to reflect on our world, and our part in it.
A lot of Jenkins lines do something similar: not from the perspective of a fantasy, but from within our own world and our own time they bring into focus some aspect of it that we may often miss through over-familiarity. The vision of London throbbing with caffeine and impatience is a sharp and pithy comment on the shallowness of lives, on what drives us.
Humour works well - as long as it supports the statement the author is making, and isn’t there just for a laugh. Wilde’s comment is amusing in its juxtaposition of price and value - but also sharply cutting in its suggestion that most people don’t understand the difference. And Jenkins comment about Marmite is funny for British readers who understand that Marmite is something you either love or hate: Hazel’s ambivalence is an insight into her character, but perhaps also a comment on how she sees the world in general.
Phrases which really capture the imagination often have a strong visual component. With Hamlet, the entire play is captured in the image of the character staring at a skull - and you only need to see the image to think of the line. The bus quivering with impatience is vivid because it so succinctly captures something that many of us will have experienced. It brings to mind a picture - and indeed, the whole feeling of being on just such a bus.
And I could go on: I’m sure that there’s a lot more to be said and discussed about what makes a line stand out from our reading. Often, it’s likely to be different from each of us - but for a writer, to find something that reaches all their readers like that is the gold at the end of the rainbow.
(The use of clichés is a topic for another time).
But have I written any memorable lines? Well, I’d like to think so - but it’s not really for me to say. However, I’ll leave you with something from my writing that I particularly like. It’s memorable to me at least!
It comes from my fantasy novel ‘The Empress’s Lover’. The Empress Anatarna has had a stormy confrontation with the arrogant and scheming Grand Duke Brodon, in which he displays his fury and threatens to bring the entire Empire down into blood and fire and civil war. After which he storms off…
‘...black cloak billowing behind him like the smoke of burning cities’.
Now there’s a powerful image if I do say so myself!
(‘Braver’ by Deborah Jenkins is published today - June 30, 2022 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Braver-Deborah-Jenkins-ebook/dp/B09ZQ5K2V6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2QBLV8NK4PR0T&keywords=braver+deborah+jenkins&qid=1656606049&sprefix=Braver%2Caps%2C621&sr=8-1 )