The Tug of Writing

Good writing tugs at readers. It makes them feel on edge, uneasy, torn, outside their comfort zone - and this is exactly what keeps them glued to the page. Writing doesn't have to be mystery or thriller writing to achieve this edge. It simply has to be compelling. Good writing tugs at readers' minds and hearts and instincts and moves them off center so that they're open to new experiences and perspectives. It changes readers. Writers accomplish this change in many ways through effective plot, structural techniques, and good storytelling. But mostly they do it through using selective language - emotionally charged language that is heavily laden with meaning and symbolism. It's language that causes readers to have a visceral reaction. It tugs at readers to pull them in a new direction. Writing that doesn't have this pull isn't memorable. It won't keep readers up late turning page after page. It may not keep them turning pages at all. Writing has to do so much more than merely inform or entertain readers. It has to fundamentally alter their consciousness. So when you read your own writing, listen for that tug in your words. See if you can feel the seduction of your language as it washes over you. Does it have the power to transform readers or does it fall short? Being able to affect readers profoundly will make your writing more meaningful and keep readers coming back for more.

The Quiet Within

It is often said that good writing comes from a writer's pain and anger, and often it does. But I would submit that good writing comes mostly from a quiet place within where the fury has stopped. Yes, we need passion and raw emotion to write well, and that passion and emotion come from our own experiences. But if we write while we're still angry or still obsessed with whatever harmed us, we're not yet thinking clearly enough about it to have a sound perspective, and so our writing suffers. Readers know the difference between a rant and a resolve. They can sense if we're level-headed and reasonable or still caught up in the storm of our emotions. They know if we've reached any peace or wisdom about an issue; and they need us to be in that place because they look to us for the answers. Readers aren't so much interested in how angry or indignant we are as they are interested in how enlightened we have become, how we've grown from the experience. It's in reaching this quiet place of acceptance within that we are able to offer the most to our readers. So it's important that we don't write too soon about something we haven't yet fully processed, because it will show in our writing and it will frustrate our readers. Tempering passion and emotion with careful understanding will make us better people and better writers.

Feeling and Thinking

Writing requires two levels of engagement - feeling and thinking. Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, your subject matter is something that needs to be relevant to you, that resonates with you on a deeper level. That means you need to get in touch with how you feel about it before you begin writing. You have to delve into your own emotional soup and sort it out before you can make any sense of it in your story or essay. After you have a handle on how you feel about your subject, you can begin to explore what you think about it, what your intellectual take on it is. This progression of feeling to thinking is important in order to write something that is meaningful for readers. If you haven't connected emotionally with your subject, readers will be able to sense that because your writing will come across as shallow and a bit sterile. Your intellectual treatment of the subject won't matter to readers if that's all you offer them. However, if you offer both intellect and emotion, readers will relate to your writing in a meaningful way because your writing will have depth and warmth. There will be layers to your story or essay that touch readers profoundly and speak to the complexities of your subject matter. Without that layering, your writing will fall flat. To write effectively about any subject, feel first and then think. Your readers will be glad you did.

Beneath Writing's Surface

So often we think of writing only in terms of its surface meaning, its subject and theme and plot. But there is another layer to writing that really needs our awareness and deserves our attention. That is the underlying or implicit meaning of a work of literature. It's the message of the work, not its more obvious subject and theme. What is the writer saying beneath the words that readers need to pay attention to? As children, we were often asked what the moral of a story was, and we answered with simplicistic ditties such as: "The moral of the story is that goodness overcomes evil," or some such cliche. Even as children, as lovers of storytelling, we instinctively knew the difference between theme (the main idea or subject matter of a story) and moral (the lesson to be learned from the story). But as adult readers and writers, we seem to have forgotten, and we focus heavily on the surface characteristics of writing rather than the deeper instrinsic meaning of it. But it's this deeper layer where writing affects us the most. We may not always be able to articulate the deeper meaning of a work, but we can always sense it. We feel writing viscerally because it is able to connect with us on this level. Whether reading or writing, we should strive to be cognizant of the richness beneath the surface of what we read and write. It will make us more appreciative readers and certainly better writers. Because, as the old adage says, it's not what we say (on the surface) but how we say it (implicitly) that makes all the difference.

Writing About Literature

Writers are sometimes asked to review a work of literature, either a classic or a newly published work. There are many ways to go about this type of review, but a process that makes the most sense is the macro-micro approach. This approach suggests that you take care of understanding the larger issues first before launching into analyzing the specifics of any work. For example, knowing what type of work it is (fiction vs. nonfiction, story vs. essay, etc.), what genre it belongs to (fantasy, romance, memoir, sci-fi, etc.), and what viewpoint it is written from (first person story, third person academic essay, etc.). Making sure you have a good handle on what type of writing you're reviewing is crucial to writing a coherent and meaningful review of it. This is especially true given, for example, the current blurring of lines between fiction and nonfiction and the creation of a new type of writing called "creative nonfiction." The distinctions between types of writing are not as clearly defined as they used to be. So it is only after having a good grasp of these larger issues that it makes sense to tackle the more specific intricacies such as plot, theme, structure, etc. Hand in hand with this approach is making sure that you fundamentally understand the work, that it makes sense to you and resonates with you. If it doesn't, your review of it will likely be confusing and ineffective. Remember that your goal in any review is to make the work clearer and more meaningful to readers, not less so. By using a systematic approach to writing a thoughtful review, progressing from macro-analysis to micro-analysis, you will create a deeper experience for readers as well as add your unique perspective to the overall view of the work.

Painting With Words

A student recently asked me if she could use a diagram to illustrate her essay and refer to it in her discussion. I told her I wanted her to paint pictures with words instead of using visual illustrations. Decidedly frustrated, she set about her task of creating images using only words as tools; and as a result of this challenge, her essay was much stronger. How do writers paint with words? They use the same technique as photographers use in framing a photograph within the lens of their cameras. They notice the details that others often overlook. Where the average person might see a tree, the writer sees the shadows it casts on the ground, the way it seems to reach skyward, the tangle of its branches, and the way its leaves catch the sunlight. And then the writer describes the tree using these details so that readers see what she sees - not just a tree, but a collection of sensory details that together create a tree. There is a world of difference between telling readers that a tree is beautiful and showing readers that the tree shimmers the golden light of sunrise through its emerald leaves. Readers will remember this picture. They will see that tree in their mind's eye and it will stay with them. Paying attention to details and painting what you see with words will keep your writing vibrant and relevant, and for readers - unforgettable.