Writing is a Practice: Effort + Principles (Part Two)

Fortunately, writing rewards genuine effort. The more time you spend writing (and reading), the better you can write. To illustrate the relationship between effort and results, we might compare writing an important essay, like a thesis dissertation, with running a marathon. Both projects are remarkably challenging and yet have been accomplished by many millions of individuals. Both projects demand a commitment of time and great effort to prepare for and complete the task. As with a marathon, writing a dissertation requires exposure, in the writer’s case exposure to written materials in that field. Where a marathoner must expose their body to the exertion of running longer and more challenging distances, so, too, must an individual expose their mind to the exertion of comprehending and expressing language that is progressively more challenging. Essentially, the more a person’s mind is set up to organize complex ideas into words, the better the written products they will tend to produce.

While effort is key, access to good information and good instruction goes a very long way. In fact, one requires both a good foundation of writing principles and time practicing to become a solid writer. For example, if you encountered bad instruction and were led to believe that using long, obscure words makes one a better writer, you may try to pepper as many 5-syllable flourishes into your writing as you can. But, in fact, writers and editors almost universally agree that you should use words with economy, and choose words based on how accurately they describe your idea rather than for their obscurity or flourish. In fact, good writers are as concise as possible without compromising meaning. This principle of economy can be in-maginative Resource’s writing tip #1.

As with many other practices – law, architecture, medicine, clinical psychology – the goal of writing is not to be “right,” but rather to attain a high quality of work. There may be aspects of right and wrong embedded within these practices, but they are at the micro, rather than macro scale, and sometimes they are even up for debate. Let’s say a lawyer is arguing that their client is innocent in light of new evidence; they may cite the relevant laws correctly or incorrectly, but the quality of the overall argument is determined by many, subjective factors: the words chosen (diction), the order of points (in rhetoric, “arrangement”) or the tone, among others. To take another example, let’s say an architect designs a 20’ cantilever above the entry of a proposed building; they must calculate the structural forces correctly to ensure the structure will not collapse. However, a lack of structural failure does not attest to the building’s overall quality. In fact, in both of these cases, getting the law or structural principles correct is a requirement for the possibility of achieving quality work. If you cite a law incorrectly, it can negate the whole argument, even if the rest was very strong. The same goes for writing. In a graduate application, the essay is expected to be free of concrete errors, but correct grammar does not equal an essay of high quality. In Pepper Resources, we’ll continue to talk about the subjective aspects of writing that affect quality including: tone, rhythm, intention, context, and novelty, but keep in mind that there is no one formula to arrive at high quality.

This phenomenon explains why any published writing goes through many drafts and exchanges between an author and editor. Even the most accomplished writers must patiently navigate a process of testing their ideas in drafts and receiving critical feedback. It is true that experience allows a writer to utilize an expanded vocabulary, avoid grammar and style mistakes, gain more control over their process, write more consistently and take on more ambitious assignments. Still, important writing assignments will always be difficult, even for experienced writers. But experience and skill can provide confidence and energy that can carry one through to the end of the writing process.

Even composing casual prose counts toward your effort to improve. You may be writing something as simple as an email, birthday card, or survey response, but if you’re thoughtful and intentional, this is good writing practice. By that matter, reading with effort and good principles in mind is a kind of writing practice as well. Now that we’ve established that being engaged with language, or practicing, is the most important ingredient to becoming a good writer,  we can start to deal with specific rules and methods on the Pepper Resources page. Next week, we’ll talk about how writing in different contexts affects the principles and rules one should apply. Keep an eye out for that, and, in the meantime, be curious, thoughtful and integrous!