Good sentences, good dialogue, good writing

Olivia Nuzzi (Twitter) is one of the political writers I enjoy reading because I enjoy her writing style. (Sometimes I also enjoy the content of her articles, but it’s really her way of writing that captures my attention.)

Here is an example of a few very well constructed sentences she has penned.

Inevitably, he arrives late, by SUV or van. The former vice-president is thin and, yes, he’s old. He dresses neatly and always in blue. Staff envelop him. … But ex-VPs don’t get security for life the way ex-presidents do. Most people don’t know that, not even the politically savvy types who attend these sorts of things. Source: The Zombie Campaign Joe Biden is the least formidable front-runner ever. Will it matter?

Do you see that short declarative sentence? It has a job to do (something it wants to communicate) and it does it, then it gets out of the way.

I admire that.

“We snuck out of Kiev to escape having to answer a lot of questions,” he said, though it wasn’t clear if he meant from the press or government officials. “They all thought we were going to leave on Friday morning, and I organized a private plane to go to Vienna on Thursday night.” Source: A Conversation With Rudy Giuliani Over Bloody Marys at the Mark Hotel

That’s solid dialogue! It’s a article about Giulani, but it reads like a hard-boiled bit of detective fiction that Ray Chaldler could have written. So good.