Poets and Writers

James B. Stewart’s Follow the Story is one of those writing books where the central question is “Do you like the work of the author?” If the answer is yes, you are going to really enjoy the journalistic lessons shared by Stewart. If you are less impressed or enamored of the non-fiction as narrative school of writing, then you are probably going to have some objections to what he tells you. Stewart was breaking ground in the form made popular by Sebastian Junger in The Perfect Storm.

The book covers a very specific form of Non-fiction writing and that is the ability to frame the story in the form of a mystery or an anomaly with the end goal of unraveling the mystery. The central theme is that people are curious, so you should use that to your advantage. He is not wrong, but he does open that his story strays from the general class of Non-Fiction to that of feature, as in made for a feature film. If anything, this could be a book on writing a three act play. In fact, some of his chapters focus on leads, transitions and dialog.

You might gather that I am not a big fan of this book, but I actually think it is very good. For a feature writer looking for tricks on salability, this is a fantastic book. It is a very good cookbook for the non-fiction feature targeted for magazine market with the intent of extending to a long form such as a book. The mechanics are clearly explained and he speaks from authority using his own work as examples.

This is worth a read if you are a commercial writer, and the subtitle to the book explains its objective clearly “how to write successful nonfiction” with an emphasis on successful as in commercial. This book is also solid if your work is focused on the real world (crime fiction for instance) or you are looking at dramatic forms. For the emotional or literary writer, its value is less direct.

Richard Rhodes How to Write is a very difficult book to categorize. Ostensibly a how to book by Pulitzer Prize winning author of the seminal work “Making of the the Atomic Bomb”, it brings in aspects of memoir detailing Rhodes development as a writer. This hybrid is both a strength and a weakness of the book, since autobiography is not a transferrable mechanism of training. Rhodes unique circumstances, can in many ways deter would be authors because it is true that circumstances and experience inspire the writer. For those whose lives are tragically ordinary, it is difficult to bring the veracity of life without relying on the hackneyed cliches of works of others.

So if experience is not transferrable is craft. This is where Rhodes book is more useful for the budding writer. Chapters on research, developing voice and structuring your writing are much more helpful. But the chapter that gives How to Write its strength is an excellent chapter on editing that goes through the process of editing on a short piece that Rhodes wrote by parenthetically interspersing the text with the decisions and questions that took place as he revised the piece. This example effectively illustrates the active process that good editing entails.

One major fault with this book is that it’s often too clever by half. Rhodes tries to coin the neologism verity to cover the writing more commonly known as non-fiction. His objections are valid, but it’s a needless distraction.  He also beleaguers the point that writing is hard, and the writing business is even harder. You can’t simultaneously romanticize writing and make it mundane without losing your point of view on the subject. 

How To Write is not as prescriptive as other comparable works, and is definitely of less value to a novice than an experienced writer. It’s best suited for those who admire Rhodes work and want to understand his writing process as one template out of many.

William Zinsser’s On Writing Well longevity on campus reading lists is remarkable, what is even more amazing is that Zinnser has continually updated the book adapting it to the times and the tools of the current age. My fourth edition has something so quaint as writing using a word processor, I have yet to see if today’s edition talks about writing using an iPhone. But as dated as the references to the tools of the time, Zinsser understood that the tools shape our thinking, and if writing is nothing else it is captured thought. On Writing Well can be summed up in three basic themes, the understanding of the Why, the How and the What of non-fiction writing. 

That last sentence unfortunately has condemned the book to the Ghetto of expository writing when the themes of the book are much more universal and applicable to all writing. Zinsser focuses first on the why. The necessity (not the desire, but necessity) of communicating succinctly and with intention. Writing should be alive and encourage the reader to keep reading. It is in effect the contract, or the transaction between writer and reader that must be satisfied.

With a clear sense of the goal, Zinsser explores the mechanics of writing an expository piece. Well conditioned for journalistic goals it focuses on the basics of the lede, the ending, how to interview, how to set the stage. The secret of great writers is that they are relentless thieves, borrowing the great turn of phrase of trick of other writers to cause a pause in their own work. My favorite is the accidental creation of adjectives that don’t naturally lend themselves to object at hand. Richard Ford once wrote about a character who dropped her old-eyed stare on others. However, the original in earlier editions was cold eyed. Now I never read the tale, but I liked that adjectives can be used in new ways.

That anecdote is not covered in the book, but other juicy excerpts are presented on how to give the different parts of your essay strength. They are not meant to be copied, but to demonstrate what is possible and serve as a guidepost for your own writing. 

On Writing Well also explores the what of non-fiction writing. Exploring the different genres of non-fiction writing and how they are structured to achieve their aims. Writing exists in the context of what came before it, without such context metaphors, allusions and aphorisms lose their power. And each context has it’s idioms and flow. Understanding the implicit assumptions of the form is critical.

Zinsser takes these tools and closes by imploring the writer to believe that they are holding the truth and defend it. Too often our writing is ripped to shreds, weakened by the goals of others, or defined by the incongruent tastes who’s flavors are dulled altered. Zinsser reminds that with training and desire that good writing can appear anywhere, and often does. So get on with it. 

On Writing Well’s breezy style and mission make it a rare combination of inspiring one to enter the writing zone, while providing the mechanics to write well once there. A natural follow on to this is James Stewart’s Follow the Story.

Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones is probably the most popular writing book out there based on my unscientific sampling of people who keep recommending it. Not so much a book with a sustained narrative, the book is structured as a series of exercises and anecdotes that emerged from Goldberg’s experience as a writing instructor. The book eschews topics such as character and narrative, but instead relies on vignettes that say one thing — it is ok to write lousy stuff. With the premise that writing the bad stuff will lead to the good stuff. This is not radical stuff not much different than the notion of constant revisions that John Gardner advocates in On Becoming a Novelist (to be overviewed later). 

Goldberg’s approach is heavily influenced by her practice of Zen Buddhism, and could have as easily been titled “Zen and The Art of Writing” In a contradiction fitting of a Zen koan, she says that the way to become a good writer is to become detached from your writing. Do not let the quality of the writing reflect on yourself. A good example is one of her exercises to open a poetry booth at a local fair. Let people pay you to write a poem on a topic of their choice, and then read it once and let it go.

Writing Down the Bones doesn’t make you a better writer, but it does its best to inspire you to practice and persevere with the act of writing and write more, and by writing more you should become better. If you have strong perfectionist tendencies, than you may struggle with the ideas presented, but you would probably be the best candidate for thinking about what’s presented. 

If you want to be a writer, (and as they say if you say you want to be a writer, you aren’t one, since it’s a job title you have to take yourself no one is going to give it to you) and you are struggling, this is a good book. If you are a writer, you really are beyond this but the exercises can be fun if you are bored or want to try something new.

The next few posts are going to be overviews and reviews of books on the art of writing. I am hesitant to use the word review because anything which improves ones chances of getting words on paper shouldn’t be denigrated as reviews often do. Nor does one know what motivate a person. What is rah rah to a person may be blah blah to another and demotivating. That said, the books I will be covering are considered “Classics” or books on writing.

Books on writing come in two major forms. The first is the helping individuals get into the “writing zone”. Tips, tools and stories on how to turn off the inner editor and give oneself permission to write without judgment. Writing is a scary task in that every action is a form of commitment. You commit words to paper, ether and others can see it. Others will judge it and the truth others will tear you down. Most will. The art critic Rene Ricard said ‘You can never explain to someone who uses God’s gift to enslave that you use God’s gift to be free.” Those who criticize without the experience of creation have different aims. The first group of books provide exercises to move beyond those voices, even if one of them is your own.

The second set of books focus on the mechanics of writing. These are not books on grammar or style, but instead books on developing voice and point of view. What does it take to create verisimilitude of voice such that truth resonates in the words that emerge. Inevitably, mechanics books focus on the art of rewriting. 

These books do not make writers, but they provide tools, camaraderie, connectedness to other writers and make what is necessarily a lonely practice not an isolated one.

Writing is hard work. Let’s face it. It’s solitary, it takes time, someone is going to not like it (the more subjective the more vicious the criticism), it pays lousy. But so many of do it. Why? Why is pretty much an irrelevant question, since motivations are infinite. What is valuable though is the how of writing, and in that arena there are almost as many ideas. 

Pia Chatterjee in this feature about local talent in the Bay Area writes about the daunting challenge of writing a novel. I can sympathize as mine has been sitting for ages. She gives a plan for getting a novel done. While I don’t agree with all the tips, since it requires a lot of time and discipline which is not available in many careers, it does provide one meaningful path toward the goal of writing. Check it out. What are your tips for writing? How do you learn? How do you get better?

Writing is tough when lives are busy sometimes you have to figure out how to write where ever you are. Laptops are pretty heavy and the battery life is not always the greatest. It’s also not convenient to carry a laptop with you everywhere. So what is a wandering, computing person going to do to capture the muse wherever on may be?

Some of us kick it old school. There is a reason the moleskine has made a comeback (besides very strong marketing). If you are looking for great pocket notebooks, skip the office supply stores with the cheapie glued in pages or spiral bound messes. Be sure to check out a asian stationery or office supply stores with inexpensive notebooks with sewn in signatures. 

I’m most excited by the advent of new Netbooks, small lightweight laptops that are affordable and have incredibly battery life. An added bonus is that they are small enough to fit in most any bag, but large enough to be able to type on them. I’m researching them and hoping to get one to see if it improves my writing frequency. 

Lastly, Google Docs is a great alternative to carrying a laptop. Wherever there is a computer with web access, you can login and get a few paragraphs in?

What do you do to capture the muse when you are on the move?

Whereas the world is in dire straits.

Whereas the people are feeling more disconnected than ever.

Whereas it feels like so much is out of the control of individuals.

Be is resolved that as writers we take the following actions…

First, we acknowledge that the act of writing is a heroic act.

Second, we acknowledge that writing is an act that we simultaneously cannot control and completely control. 

Third, we acknowledge those that have written before us and honor the words of Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz and follow his dictum that ”A writer must sit down to write every day, pick up his pen and try to write something — anything — on a piece of paper,” or blog, or computer, or stone tablet.

In these days of uncertainty, make a positive act. Commit a thought to paper, let it live, let it suffer the indignities of the critics, but leave a mark. And then take all that burdens those words and make it better.

As writers, we must worry less about getting things right that writing nothing at all. Be courageous my fellow writers. The final draft only begins with a first draft, and let the writing begin.

But more seriously, ways to help your writing in 2009.

1) Set up an account with a major blogging site, it’s free and you don’t have to publish it to the world. It’s a great way to take a free moment at work if you have access to a computer. Just go to the site and toss in a few words.

2) Consider carrying a personal journal. Moleskines are wonderful, if absurdly expensive. The hipster PDA  is a great way to take notes as you need them. It’s cheap and works.

3) Consider a netbook, these new sub-laptops have great battery life and are a way to have your writing tool where you need it. 

4) Write letters and postcards, writing flexes muscles, muscles need exercise. Pick up postcards in the town you live and send off a quick note, poem, postcard post to friends you don’t correspond with, hell send a postcard to those people you email and IM with all the time (I promise, it’ll blow their mind!)

5) In these Dickensian times, think “Bleak House”. Charles Dickens was a great serialist, think of your great American Novel as a serial and write it as such. It worked for Harper Lee, it can work for you, even if you never serialize it.

The most important thing you can do, when you think you are powerless, it to write. Make a mark, any mark.

It’s the holiday season and one of the chores, or traditions is the sending of cards. I always find it interesting to see what people do with this commitment. Do you go industrialized and send out pre-printed cards that have been personalized with a photo of your choice? Or are you one to get store bought cards and insert a printed out “newsletter” of your past exploits. Do you just sign your name on a whole bunch of cards and send them out.  Or are you more of a traditionalist, writing each card by hand. Or are you one to send out bulk holiday email newsletters.

Well, whatever your style. I recommend going big and unleashing the writer in you and decide to make a memorable holiday letter. Here are some tips on how to make a great holiday card.

1) Have a point of view. There is a lot of pressure to be cheery and paint a pretty picture with your holiday update. Resist that pressure, instead insist on being true. If it was a crazy year, than say so. If it was a sad year, then explain it. Don’t whine, don’t wallow but say it was a year of change or tragedy. Maybe your wife or child died. You aren’t going to say it was a great year, so don’t fake it. Your friends will want to know what happened.

2) Offer a lesson learned. What came out of this year that mattered. Sharing something you didn’t know before will benefit those who you care. Did you read a great book that moved you. Maybe you found out that living with less stuff make you happier, or maybe that new dream car really was a dream. Or maybe you found out that asking your boss for a raise does work. It can be short, as simple as “writing every day is an act of progress in that something existed that didn’t before.” and then it become your novel. This is your opportunity to pontificate.

3) Commit to a goal for the next year. Say I’m looking forward to 2009 to finish X. It took me three years of promising in my annual holiday card that I was going to do a triathlon, but this year I finally did. Saying what you want holds you to your commitment, and it gives something for your friends to follow up on.

4) Give thanks and acknowledge that which matters. This is a simple thing to close out your letter, it works for the Academy award winners.

5) Be true to your voice. The cliche is always to write in the memoir style. Unless you are old and reflective. Avoid it. Write as if you were telling a story over coffee or a beer.

Incorporate a new view on this annual tradition and it’ll be a better read, a better write and people will remember it.

One of the reasons that my friend started a writers group was to create some external driver to get us to write. Basically it was a game to get us to write so we would have an opportunity to get together socialize, to eat and to drink. But to get there, we had to write. We at least enforced that. 

Ever since then I’ve looked for tricks to keep me writing. I’m quite passionate about the environment, so I started a blog and the drill was to write. It didn’t matter how great the post was, but to commit. It kept me writing for a year. But then life interferes.

So what do you do to get you to write?

A blog gets me writing, but that’s just to keep my chops up.

So one more time, what do you do?