A Slight Delay

Ages ago, one of my college professors told a creative writing class, “Nothing ruins writing like going to college.” And while it’s true that the endless grind of essays and term papers can lead to a stilted, overly academic, view of the writing craft, I think there’s another thing that’s equally destructive: making writing a mysterious, mystifying thing. I bring this up because I’ve seen the topic of finding one’s voice as a writer referred to in sometimes mystical, new-agey terms. Well, enough of that.

Ever listened to a recording of yourself? It can be a bit disconcerting–Do I really sound like that?–but that’s your voice. It can also take a little while to get used to your voice on the page. Do I really write like that? If there are aspects of your writing voice you’re not crazy about (maybe your similes are nasally), you can always work on those, in much the same way you can train your speaking voice. Just be careful not to train all the life out of your writing. (more…)

If you’re looking for advice on writing, there are innumerable books and articles on writing (Well, duh. –Ed.). Having said that, you can easily cut through all of them and narrow the whole pile down to just two items, one a (very small) book, and the other an essay. I’m speaking from experience here, since every so often I’ll go to the bookstore and add another to the pile, and read a bit, and then allow them to gather dust.

So if you’re looking for just the bare essentials, your starting point should be William Strunk’s The Elements of Style, later edited and updated by E. B. White. Whereas most style manuals are bulky, boring, pedantic, and expensive, Elements is concise and readable (It’s writing, isn’t it readable by definition? –Ed.) (Enough with the editorializing, you. –PB). And did I mention inexpensive?

The other is an essay, George Orwell’s Politics and the English Language. It’s not a primer or a how-to, as such. As is typical of Orwell, it’s more analysis and polemics. It’s also, typically, funny as hell. Anyway, if you’re either a writer or a reader (and I’d hope you’re one or the other, if not both), you need to read this. Yearly, if needed. Sample quotation:

Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Further reading:
You can find Orwell’s Politics and the English Language here, though I’d suggest buying it in the collection A Collection of Essays (Mariner, 1970) along with Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, from your favorite local/indie bookstore.

Confused yet? Anyway, the folks over at Ask And Ye Shall Receive, a blog where a team of reviewers analyze/vivisect other blogs, have reviewed A Slight Delay. It doesn’t appear as though we were exactly up their alley… which isn’t to say it wasn’t a good review–you kinda have to give props to someone who can make you laugh while they’re telling you they found your blog about as interesting as uncooked tofu. Read the original here.

Just the same as nobody writes in a vacuum, nobody writes for a vacuum, either. Nobody writes for the sake of not being read. Nobody–at least no one that I know–writes something with the fervent hope that it’s overlooked or ignored.

So who are we writing for? Who’s your audience, your adoring public? Many people who create–whether for a living, or just on impulse–will tell you that they’re doing it primarily for themselves, and that’s a good starting point. After all, if what you’re doing doesn’t even interest you, why bother? Having said that, I think most people who write do it on some level in order to reach a wider audience; stuff that’s written primarily to please one’s self ends up reading as though it was written that way (ie. bloated, self-indulgent). (more…)

Discipline is never an end itself, only a means to an end. –Robert Fripp

Last week’s assignment, for those of you scoring at home, was to write three paragraphs a day, every day. Like jogging, biking, or any other kind of exercise, you may have found yourself–and/or may yet find yourself–aching in places you didn’t know could ache as you get around to exercising stuff that’s lain dormant for a while.

The whole idea here is to build a routine, and to turn writing into a habit. It’s hard to write if you haven’t done it in a while; making excuses not to write is a heck of a lot easier than staring at a blank page or screen, and figuring out what you’re going to fill it with. As with jogging, though, it gets easier the more often you do it. And at some point it stops being exercise or a chore; it’s something you look forward to, a rush of adrenaline or endorphins, if you will. (more…)

Chance favors the prepared observer. –Marcel Duchamp

One of the problems you’ll run into, if you haven’t already, is the “writer’s block” dilemma. The reason for last week’s assingnment, besides getting you outside your comfort zone, is because most of us fancy ourselves a certain “kind” of writer. I’m a poet. I don’t “do” nonfiction.

There’s nothing wrong with specialization. After all, you’ll probably get more out of your writing if your subject is one that you know and love. But sometimes you’ll feel tapped out, as though you’ve said about all you can say just then on a given subject, or you talk yourself out of writing on something because even though you know it, you know someone out there knows it better. There’s a lot to be said for just using whatever’s close at hand, whatever grabs you in the moment, and running with it. (more…)

Last week’s assignment was to write something awful. Not merely bad, mind you. I’m talking truly horrid. In case you’ve spent the last week fretting over the point of that little exercise (I know you weren’t; play along for a bit), here’s why I put it out there:

Anyone that takes writing even remotely seriously wants to do it well. And anyone–at least of the writers I know–that wants to do it well is convinced that their writing is pretty awful. Now, I’ll grant you that there are some pretty bad writers out there. But if you tried this exercise, you probably found that it took some effort to come up with something bad. (more…)

Starting today, I’ll be posting from time to time–once a week, hopefully–my own thoughts on writing, plus writing prompts and exercises. As with pretty much everything else you’ve read, or will read, here, this isn’t something on which I’m an expert. Hopefully you’ll find something useful regardless. Here goes nothing…

If you write, or you’ve even thought all that much about writing, someone’s probably told you the old writer’s mantra: “Write what you know.” Sometimes, especially if you’re staring at a blank page or screen for minutes, hours, or days on end, this can be useful advice. What you know and the things with which you’re comfortable can be a touchstone as much in writing as they are in life.

They can be limiting at the same time. Speaking for myself, I find a lot of my day-to-day life to be… shall we say, dull? I’ll never be mistaken for Jackie Wilson (”Mr. Excitement”), that’s for damn sure. Sooner or later, if you’re writing only about the things you know, you settle into a sameness in your writing. (more…)