So You Think You Can Write?

I attend two or three writing conferences each year, and I've talked one-on-one with hundreds of writers. Some of them are great and don't know it. Others are, well, not great and don't know it. My personal feeling is that writing is probably more simple and more difficult than most people think.

That's why I appreciated "On Writing" by Andrée Seu. Both the novice and experienced writer can benefit from the rapid-fire writing advice contained in this article: Replace generalities with vivid details. Avoid clichés. Write things that are helpful.

I'm tempted to make copies of this article and hand it out to every writer I meet. If you want to be a writer (or a better writer), read this article every day for a month. In a similar vein, I encourage students to read Strunk and White's "Elements of Style" once each year.

I particularly liked Seu's words to the Christian writer:

What's good for life is good for the writing life: Write "anything that would be helpful" (Acts 20:20). Also, you have heard that it was said, "The writer makes his own luck" — meaning that he should go out and live an exciting life. But the Lord says, "Defend the cause of the weak" (Psalms 82:3) — and you will have material aplenty.

Don't be intimidated by the "other guys" (Time, Newsweek). "Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?" (Jeremiah 8:9). Besides, they throw around phrases like "a house divided cannot stand" without a clue as to where they come from.

Dirty little secrets of the trade: Writers don't know where they're going till they get there; first drafts are always pathetic; there is no such thing as an original thought.

That's good advice.

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

1. Andrea-Elena said the following at 1:57 PM on Apr 30:

Thank you, Boundless team, for publishing these articles on writing. A writer is the #3 component to the person I have wanted to be when I grew up (components 1 and 2 being wife and mother, respectively).

I do count myself as a writer, though in this season of my life the craft functions more as a hobby/ministry/vocation than as a career. And though one might think that editing/proofreading is vastly different from writing, the truth is that the two are intertwined. My job has contributed to my writing abilities by honing my skills in spelling, punctuation, grammar, and composing with clarity.

So... although component 3 is well in hand, further development is always a good thing. =)

I'm delighted to be in the cadre of writers who live for Christ and write to make Him known.

As He illuminates us, may we continue to illuminate Him for the watching, yearning world (Psalm 18:28 HCSB; John 20:31; Matthew 5:16)!!

2. John Shen said the following at 3:22 PM on Apr 30:

Thanks, Suzanne, for the encouragement. I recently read a quote in a similar vein (though pertaining to a different field):

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the right direction." - Albert Einstein

Of course I would not deign to add to Einstein's words, but I have an addendum nevertheless - it takes a childlike heart too. ;)

3. Sarah P. said the following at 3:32 PM on Apr 30:

I appreciate the bit about first drafts. They're sort of like wrestling with a large snake - you end up inside, confused and terrified about what's going to happen next.

4. Rachael said the following at 3:38 PM on Apr 30:

Good advice to "Replace generalities with vivid details."

I find that I'm often wishy-washy because I don't want to write something that I might be remembering incorrectly; I don't want to be "dishonest"...

5. Leah said the following at 8:53 PM on Apr 30:

"Replace generalities with vivid details"

That, I believe, is one of the key reasons Harry Potter has been so successful. Instead of making generalisations about what the Forbidden Forest is like, or how Hogwarts functions, JK Rowling goes into details, mentally illustrating them beautifully to create a detailed world in the reader's mind. Amazing stuff.

As for not using clichés? That was DRILLED into us during my journalism degree.

And yes, writing is difficult. I aspire to ultimately become a fiction writer, and from my experience (in both writing and reading), I think the difficulty in that would be explaining and expanding your fictional world, going into those vivid details mentioned earlier, without being too long-winded and losing the reader (as I believe JRR Tolkien does, although he makes up for it with the sheer genius of his storylines).

The difficulty in non-fictional writing, which I know by experience (in writing) is cutting out what is not absolutely necessary so that you give a clear-cut, succinct picture of the real story. (Which I had lots of practice in, again with my journalism degree!)

6. John said the following at 10:46 AM on May 1:

Oops - I need a second draft.
'It takes a genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.'
Einstein wouldn't say 'right', I think. Gotta double check my quotes. I guess I'm writing from a biased perspective. Uhoh.

7. Stephen Altrogge said the following at 2:27 PM on May 4:

Suzanne -

I appreciate your encouragement about writing. I would have to disagree a little bit about one of your dirty little secrets of writing. You said that writers don't know where they're going until they get there. In many cases this is true, but I don't think this should always be the case.

I find it helpful to lay out my thoughts, get them crystallized, know what direction I'm headed, and know where things are going to end. If I don't keep my end in mind it's hard for me to keep pounding the point home throughout the piece.

Just my thoughts! Thanks again...

8. Pete said the following at 5:15 PM on May 6:

I have a short story that's ready for publishing, which I'll be working on during my break before summer session classes start.

After writing for a couple of newspapers, I find writing as my therapy, a time that I block all thoughts and concerns out and enter my own trance, so to speak, so that I can write effectively.