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Key points
- Good writing is the result of both conscious and unconscious processes.
- Knowing which words to include—and which to leave out—is an essential part of the process.
- Clarity of expression is the most important attribute of all.
A multitude of books have been published about writing and the writing process, and the works that comprise this genre are surprisingly diverse. Some volumes are largely prescriptive—think of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style—while others, such as Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, focus more on memoir than on craft.
The advice dispensed by such books, however, can be vague or otherwise unhelpful. Exhortations to "show, don't tell," or to "write what you know" may be useful to some degree. But many of these pronouncements come across as dogmatic or heavy handed.
On the other hand, some suggestions have become lodged in my brain and have changed the way that I write, or the way that I think about writing. Ideas in the books included here have led to such epiphanies for me. As a result, they are among my favorites and are very much worth reading, albeit for different reasons.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Works of horror or fantasy may or may not be your cup of tea, but there is no denying that Stephen King is both a prolific author and an excellent craftsman. He wrote this book in his mid-50s, after having published more than 40 novels and story collections.
When I first read this book, over a decade ago, I was struck by King's repeated claim that he is not truly in charge of the stories that he writes. Instead, he suggests that stories are "found things, like fossils in the ground," and that the job of the author is to excavate them. In other words, a writer must be open to taking dictation from his or her subconscious mind.
This perspective might make sense for writing fiction, I thought, but it gradually became clear to me that it applies to nonfiction as well. Solutions to knotty writing problems that I couldn’t solve during the day have sometimes revealed themselves to me after a period of incubation, such as when I wake up in the middle of the night or in the morning. Stephen King has taught me to trust my gut and to let my muse call the shots when my conscious mind runs out of ammunition.
Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer
Benjamin Dreyer worked for nearly 30 years as a copy editor at Random House, and so it is not surprising that he has strong opinions about writing in general and the mechanics of writing in particular.
Much of his advice is prescriptive. One chapter, for example, covers confusable terms such as “affect” and “effect” or “tortuous” and “torturous.” Another chapter—straightforwardly titled “Peeves and Crochets”—addresses the misuse of terms like “irony” and “hopefully.” And all of his advice is delivered in a witty and acerbic style that is a delight to read.
But for me, it is the book’s first chapter that makes it worth the price of admission. In a section titled “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (Your Prose),” Dreyer challenges the reader to try and write without using a dozen or so words and phrases that he refers to as “wan intensifiers” and “throat clearers”—such as actually and just—that only serve to get in the way of what one is trying to say.
Ever since I encountered Dreyer’s list, I’ve kept a copy near my computer and have tried to wring these offenders out of my prose. It’s difficult and sometimes impossible, but the process almost always makes what I’ve written clearer and more succinct.
First You Write a Sentence: The Elements of Reading, Writing ... and Life by Joe Moran
Whereas King’s book explores writing as a creative process and Dreyer’s tome tackles issues at the level of words, Joe Moran’s entry on this list occupies the middle ground and addresses the business of crafting effective sentences and paragraphs. Reading about such things may sound as appealing as watching paint dry, but he somehow makes this subject come alive.
Moran has written several nonfiction books and is currently a professor of English and cultural history at Liverpool John Moores University. In his earlier books, he addressed topics as diverse as daily routines, shyness, and British roads. But in First You Write a Sentence, he turns his attention to what it is that makes good prose work.
At one point, Moran approvingly quotes George Orwell—another philosopher of English—who observed that “Good prose is like a windowpane.” And it is this observation that encapsulates his approach to writing, in which clarity is seen as the truly essential element. After all, if what you’ve written isn’t clear, and you abandon your reader to wander in the thickets of your verbiage, then you've failed in your mission to enlighten or to enterain.
I’ve included Moran’s book here because it’s full of such sage advice. It has also made me think about how I construct paragraphs, and how to vary them in order to maintain the reader’s interest. The book is also beautifully written and serves as proof of concept for his arguments.
