My father is a composer, and I played the oboe all through my childhood and youth. In my family, we listened to music as the primary culture. In writing, I always have to have a sense of the way the piece sounds. Finding the voice initially is like a musician finds how her instrument sounds, through different chord changes.
I could sit down and go through ever essay I’ve written, and see how it would correlate to some kind of musical piece. I’m always aware of how many beats are in a sentence. I use a lot of short sentences—I like staccato. And after a long riff, I always have a short one after it, for readers to catch their breath. I see writing as very much about riffs—to the point where, after I’ve written something, I need to make sure it tracks logically. The first priority is how it sounds.
I tend to overdo adverbs, and that’s a musical thing. I always want to stick something in front of a verb, just for rhythm. I feel it needs a grace note.
– Meghan Daum, writer
