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Chapter 20 shifts the focus from closed- to open-form writing. It offers practical lessons on writing open-form prose and encourages the use of some open-form techniques in otherwise closed-form texts. Open-form prose differs from closed-form prose in basic features, the challenges to the writer, and the demands upon and pleasures for the reader. By the end of the chapter, you should understand the following: 1. Closed- and open-form prose exist upon a continuum, and the styles can be blended in pleasing combinations. 2. Many of the conventions of closed-form prose are designed to lighten the information-processing burden upon the reader; open-form prose often defies those conventions, producing texts that might demand more of the reader but pay dividends in pleasure. 3. Open-form narratives are stories, as opposed to and then chronologies; stories depict events through time, provide connectedness, exhibit tension or conflict, and offer resolution, recognition, or retrospective interpretation. 4. Effective open-form prose operates at a low level on the ladder of abstraction, using concrete, revelatory, and memory-soaked words. 5. Open-form prose often defies readers' desire for direction and clarity, leaves gaps, or adopts ironic or otherwise unreliable narrative points of view. 6. Open-form prose makes heavier use of figurative language than closed-form prose, and it exhibits a wider range of styles and a richer array of voices and tones.
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