So we're writers. We recognize competent writing and adore it. I'm sure I am not the only one who has read a book/short story whose writing literally takes your breath away.

So this is where you can write down what kind of clever little devices or chilling imagery made you revere an author. And feel free to make note of those times that you feel an author ruined their chances and broke their spell.

The first chapter of Angelfall.
The ending of Harpist in the Wind.

Those two come instantly to mind... and they send chills down my spine every. Single. Time. Those are the kinds of scenes I memorize so I can play them out in my head, over and over. Well, the Angelfall one, not really, because I tend to do that with climatic scenes, not openings but... I read the opening for Angelfall twice without even going on to read the rest of the book first. It was phenomenal.

I'm sure I'll think of some more later.

Many chapters in Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet. He uses metaphor and descriptive words rather than cliche words in the second chapter and other chapters. The words he uses are so rich and well used! Other times in the book, it got just a little boring talking about the history of the world(sometimes it was interesting but sometimes it is boring), but I guess that's what makes him a little like J R R Tolkien. The books he writes are meant to be savored and slowly enjoyed, not read quickly through like thrillers. Because if you did read quickly through it, you'd miss something. I guess that's why I really like Jeffrey Overstreet's style of writing in Auralia's Colors. Cynder's Midnight, the second book, was a good book too. The plot and the characters were good, but Auralia wasn't in it, and her colors were seen only a few times. The second book isn't about Auralia; it's like a Beauty and the Beast story. It sort of broke the beautiful style in a small way since Auralia(one of the best characters ever in my opinion) wasn't in it, but it's still a really good book.
His books read like scripts to movies; you have to pay attention to them too in order to understand a joke or the plot or else you have to rewind to get it.

Many small but clever plays on words awe me. Perhaps one of the simplest examples was a poem that contained the phrase, 'the healthy sea'. For myself, that unique combination of adjective and noun brought such fresh and glorious images to mind that I've remembered the phrase even though I've forgotten both the poem and the author.

The one thing that immediately comes to mind is Katie's super hero series of shorts. Each one didn't just take my breath away, they incapacitated my mind's ability to function for several minutes and put me in complete and total shock. (Reminds self he needs to analyze those shorts sometime. )

Some of Tolkien's poetry in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book come to mind. Especially The Mewlips and The Hoard, but Shadow-bride and The Last Ship also come would fall into this category -- though to a lesser degree.

In Tolkien's The Children of Hu'rin the enormity of the tragedies that happen easily take my breath away.

There were a few books in the vast collection of Star Wars Literature that also placed a special spell on me, but time has erased the memories of their names.

I'm sure there are more, but they don't come to mind right now. I'm going to have think this question over somemore.

Me too. Clever authors that pack a large amount of essence into their words, play on words, or hide foreshadowing inside a foreshadow's shadow go a long way towards stealling my breath.

I like complex plots. I always hated being able to figure out who did what in every Nancy Drew I ever read (I could tell you when I was about half-way through the book). I am able to filter through people's plots with ease, so a complex plot that turns on me is a big bonus.

I was very surprised at the writing in Left Behind, the series. Some of the books were better than others, but overall the way Jerry and Tim chose to craft their story was impressive.

::has neglected her topic since she has been on a trip::



That's the truth! I've noticed that flashbacks have huge awe possibilities for me. That resurrecting of past events in the book help me put things in perspective and tie the story together. I am especially impressed when there is imagery involved in the flashback.

I remember being amazed while reading The River by Rumer Godden. The theme is "reconciling the jagged edges of beginnings and ends," changes, life and death, etc. At the very end of the last chapter, the little girl was taking a walk with the other main character. They talk, and then the man walks away without saying goodbye. The little girl cries out. "Wait! You haven't said goodbye to me yet!" That's all. Then she walks back though her yard and thinks about how she had better rake the grass the next morning. She wasn't ready for him to leave, but she can't stop him anymore than she can stop the events that happen in her life. So she continues on; the mundane never stops.

Wow! Thank you, Mark. I should go reread them, sometime, because I don't remember them being that good.

There were many moments in Mara: Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw that had me holding my breath and clutching the book with white-knuckled hands. The writing is so rich and powerful, and the key moments of realization had such an impact on the reader that I couldn't read fast enough to get through it. I'd love to write like that.

Whatever you do, please, don't consider giving up on them.
Though the breath-stealing might have been heavily tied to the theme, there is no denying that bad writing would still have killed it. There is also no denying that that story is not wallowing in death, and that it was very succesful in evoking emotion and stunnedness out of the readers on the Sci-Fi forum.