What a Writer Is

We writers get a lot of commentary and advice on what a writer is or should be. Some say a writer is someone who has been published. Others say a writer is someone who has works in progress - in other words, specific projects in the hopper that are targeted toward some publishing target. Others would say a writer is one who has a platform, an Internet and social media presence and following. Still others would say a writer is someone who produces work in a certain genre or who fills a specific, defined niche in the literary world. And there are always those who declare that only those who make their living at writing can dare call themselves writers. The truth is, a writer is all and none of that. Emily Dickinson wrote in obscurity her whole life, unpublished, unrecognized, completely unknown to the outside world; yet, who today would say she was not a writer? Certainly all of the entities of publication, platform, genre and income are important to a writer's success, but none of them make someone a writer. Simply put, a writer is someone whose primary personal expression is through the medium of writing. That's it. An unpublished writer is no less a writer than a published one. The two just have different ways of accomplishing their expression. The unpublished writer may write solely for the personal satisfaction of it and the published writer may write primarily for the connection with readers. Each is equally valid and valuable. Don't let someone tell you how and what you should do to be a writer. Write from your own perspective for your own reasons. If your writing gets shared with the larger world, great. If it just enriches your own inner life, that's great too. The important thing is that you're doing something you love to do because it moves you to do it, and there is no better way to spend your precious time and energy on this earth.

Seeking Perfection

Too many writers give up too quickly because they seek perfection. If they can't write perfectly, they don't want to write at all, so they give up. Writing is like any other craft. It involves practice and developing skills one step at a time. It doesn't involve achieving perfection. Setting perfection as your goal will only lead you to disappointment and failure. Perfection isn't what writing is all about. Connection is. That basic human need to connect with our feelings, our dreams, our fears, our disappointments, our discoveries, is what drives artists of every stripe to do what they do. Writers choose to connect with words. They aren't perfect words. They're words that resonate with others because they come from honesty. You don't have to express yourself perfectly to connect with readers. But you do have to express yourself honestly and with conviction. This is what readers will ask for and want from you. So don't give up too soon on your creative drive because you are afraid you can't be perfect. The world doesn't need you to be perfect. The world needs you to be you! Stay with your writing through all the stumbling and setbacks, keep working, keep growing, and know that each misstep only brings you closer to your ultimate goal - being a writer who matters.

Scene and Summary

Scene and summary are two basic tools in a writer's kit. They're the equivalent of showing and telling. The challenge for writers is understanding how to use the two effectively. Writing that is all scene and showing is exhausting for readers. There are times that a writer needs to pull back from the intensity of drama and action and do a little synopsis of events. Writing that is all summary and telling is boring for readers. They need to have some dramatic action to hold their interest. There are times that a writer needs to ramp up the tension with some drama and let readers figure things out for themselves. The best writing combines the two and interweaves scene and summary (or showing and telling) into the narrative. The key is knowing what material is best left to summary and what material needs to be dramatized. Anything that is critical to the movement of the story - important events, turning points, etc. - should be written in scene. Information that is less critical to the story's movement and functions as explanation or background rather than action should be written in summary. These principles apply to nonfiction as well as fiction. In nonfiction writing, expound on the important information and summarize the routine information. This will give readers the information they need and still keep them interested. The effective use of scene and summary, or showing and telling, will keep your prose moving and keep your readers riveted to your writing.

Staying True

The hard part of writing is often not the act of writing itself, but rather the struggle with being able to say what we really mean. As writers, we are swayed by many forces that can get in the way of being true to ourselves. We worry about what others will think if we write what we really mean. This includes family, friends, co-workers, etc. We don't want to offend anyone and we don't want anyone to think badly about us because we have written honestly what we really feel and think. So we tend to hold back, unwilling to risk the negative consequences of getting on someone's bad side. Likewise, we worry about what we think the publishing world expects of us. We concern ourselves with what editors and publishers want, what readers may be asking for, and what is expected of us as writers. This can both intimidate and block us from saying what we really want to say because we fear rejection and being told our writing just doesn't stack up. As a result of these pressures and influences, we often dilute what we want to say. We drain the life out of our message and our emotions and serve up something we think is more palatable to the world that will be judging us. Our writing languishes in the depths of mediocrity and conformity and we give up our writing dream. We may get published writing this way, but we rob ourselves of the true spirit of writing. We become writing mechanics, but not writing artists. It is hard to ignore the voices that drown us when we write, but we have to tune them out to the extent that they don't extinguish the flame that drove us to writing in the first place. Accepting feedback is one thing. Letting it dampen us is another. We must always, unwaveringly, stay true to our own voice, our unique message, and become the writers we were meant to be.

Listen to Your Writing

One of the most difficult concepts to teach writing students is why a grammatically correct sentence doesn't always mean a good sentence. A student once described ineffective writing as "clunky." That adjective gets right to the point. A sentence that is awkwardly worded, poorly organized, repetitive or nonsensical is the literary equivalent of a clunky engine. It may run, but it doesn't purr. A sentence that is technically perfect in the sense that it has no grammatical errors can still be a structural disaster. Good writing pays attention to nuance, flow, rhythm and the emotional impact or "charge" of words. A well constructed sentence not only reads correctly, it sounds correct or rings true to a reader's ear. It is smoothly constructed with seamless transitions and purrs like a well tuned engine. Good writing rolls off the tongue and the reader is unaware of its parts and construction details. Clunky writing, on the other hand, parades all of its unseemly parts, making readers painfully aware of how awkward and clumsy it is. Effective writing is difficult to teach, but not impossible to learn. Reading your work aloud is the best way to spot clunky writing. You will trip over your own poorly written words as easily as readers will. You will become aware of the sentences that just don't work if you really listen to your writing. Likewise, you will also spot the sentences that purr; and with practice and close attention, you will begin to develop a writer's ear that transforms writing disasters into writing successes.

Message Is Everything

My writing students sometimes fall short of getting their message across because they don't state it clearly enough. They hint at it, they dance around it, they take a general stab at it, but they don't directly state what they really want to say. This often happens because writers see what they meant to say rather than what they actually said. When reading back their writing, they are blind to the lack of clarity that keeps readers guessing. It sounds good in their heads because their message is clear and evident to them, but they can't see how the vision in their heads fails to translate to the written page. So to gain this clarity, we have to step back from our writing. We need to put distance between what we thought we said and what we actually said. There are several ways to do this. One is to re-read our work after we've had a break from it. This allows us to gain a healthy detachment from work we have been intimately involved with. Another is to read our work out loud. The sound of our spoken voice is easier to "hear" than the voice in our heads. Another is to have someone else read our work and give us feedback. Another person's perspective is like a mirror that sends back to us an image of what really exists. Whatever the technique, the goal is to create some distance from our own work so that we can see it clearly and realistically. We need to know if our message has transmitted because, if it hasn't, our writing has failed us and our readers won't respond to it. Message is everything. We must make sure we get it right.

Writing Practice

It's hard work to become a good writer. Often beginning writers are hesitant to do the work because they fear failure. But failure is the seed from which real growth begins. You have to fail to improve. You have to be willing to practice your writing, to do the hard, tedious work that is your apprenticeship. Just like any other skilled craft, you have to put in the work to get anything back out. The most important part of this work will be your mistakes. Your mistakes open doors for you to deepen your skills and ascend to the next level. So don't run from your mistakes, embrace them. Turn your fear of failing into failure that works for you. Practice is as important to a writer as it is to a painter or musician or any other type of artist. But the kind of practice that's needed is an absolute daily absorption in your craft. It requires becoming so involved with what you do that the lines between who you are and what you do begin to blur. This is where real art begins. Your practice should not be your burden, but your freedom - the thing that allows you to be who you're meant to be. Practice until it becomes as much a part of your day as breathing. Practice until you need it as much as you need breathing. Practice because you can't not practice. When you've reached this point, your writing will flow from you unimpeded by fear. Through devoted practice, you will have transcended that fear and grown into a true writer.

Intersection of Thought

Some of a writer's most creative work comes from the intersection of thought. The more you read and learn, the more coincidences in ideas you will find. There are endless parallel concepts that thread their way through the world's disciplines and philosophies. An idea you find in the field of psychology may also appear in the field of science, for example. It may be dressed in slightly different regalia, but it is the same basic idea nonetheless. These repeated ideas are the universal truths that help us understand our world, whether we're dealing in biology or music, in art or engineering. It is in these intersections of thought that writers can find their most innovative creations. The juxtaposition of two seemingly opposites melding into a single truth can result in compelling writing that helps readers see the world in new and exciting ways. Look for these special places where thoughts intersect and use them fully to create the kind of writing you may have previously only dreamed about. Join together those things that seem unlikely companions, look for the threads of similarity in everything you encounter, and watch your writing bloom like the proverbial desert rose.

The Fun and Work of Writing

Inspiration and perspiration go hand in hand in a writer's life. It is impossible to write effectively without both. Beginning writers often latch onto the inspiration half of the equation because that's the fun part. Being motivated to create something can be exhiliarating and other-wordly. It takes us away from our mundane lives and infuses excitement into them. However, experienced writers have learned that inspiration is only part of writing. The real work of writing, the perspiration, is what transforms average writing into exceptional writing. But it is important to recognize that both elements are critical to a writer's success. Without inspiration, that first draft may never get written. It requires inspiration to take that first step. It allows writers to experience the fun part of writing that keeps them coming back for more. After that first draft, that initial heady flurry of flinging words on paper, comes the writer's most difficult task of rewriting. That's the perspiration part. First drafts are rarely close to the dream the writer initially envisioned. In fact, they are often a poor second cousin. To get closer to that original vision, writers must put in the arduous, tedious work of revising and editing. This is where the true craft of writing lies, in the rewriting phase. So, don't let anyone tell you that your inspiration is all fluff or doesn't matter. It does matter. It's like the appetizer before a meal. The rewriting is the nourishment, the meal itself, and the end product is the dessert, the polished piece. Enjoy and savor each step of the writing process, recognizing each step's importance to the overall goal, and you will be greatly pleased with the result.

Passionate Reason

I tell my writing students that to write an effective argument essay they need to be passionately reasonable. This means that they need to be passionate about their subject matter in that it has to have some significant relevance to them. Without this passion, they are not able to achieve the argumentative edge that creates good, persuasive writing. To convey this passion, they must use selective language, meaning language that is emotionally charged and that will evoke the desired response from readers. But along with all this passion, they must also be reasonable. They must be credible to readers and present ideas in such a way that readers will listen and learn. Being way out on a limb, eccentric and unable to relate to readers' values and emotions is going to turn readers off and squelch any possible power of persuasion. So passionate reason is what I ask them to strive for. This is good advice for all types of writing. If you don't truly care about your subject matter, whether you're writing fiction, nonfiction or poetry, it will be painfully evident in your writing and your readers won't care either. But passion alone will not suffice with readers. Your ideas must resonate with them on a level that makes sense. That means you must appeal to readers' intelligence and their ability to discriminate between sound, credible writing and hogwash. Readers look to writers for answers to life's great questions and they are very selective about which answers they will accept. Be one of those writers who writes with passion and reason and your readers will follow you anywhere you want to take them because the journey for them will be well worth the effort.