Sound and Rhythm in Flash

“Language is matter—it’s a substance to be fingered and disturbed.”—Garielle Lutz

We pay attention to acoustics when we’re writing sensitively and deeply. This happens whether we know it or not. It is not dissimilar to the way a musician will compose music.

Leaving aside what actual words mean, or the tension they introduce or escalate, the way words sound as we speak them in our minds is crucial. As writers our attention to acoustics will make a piece of fiction beautiful and haunting in ways that a reader will not consciously recognise.