Andrew Wollard
Sep 5, 2018 · 2 min read

I enjoyed reading this piece. It is worth asking the question: What are you trying to impart to the world? If you write a cultural piece trying to tease out the meaning of Peter Weir’s seminal film about the disappeareance of three girls in 1900 at Hanging Rock, what are you communicating to the world about art, meaning, reception theory, etc? If you are a historian writing about the Reformation in London or the Fugitive Slave Act in America in the 1850s, what is your argument and why should anyone care?

Ego, feedback loops ( positive and negative in the technical sense of the term ), followers, all of these elements are critical features of the problem. However, I would add one more vital element. The breezy, even conversational, style many writers employ on Medium or business magazines or cultural journals contributes to a commodification and a cheapening of writing. If you can dash out a piece shot through with lots of white space and ready made for the eight grade eye and mind, that is at least part of the problem, and it is one that exists almost independently of ego and followers ( though feedback loops may intensify or even cause this phenomenon…).

All writers should utilize a test composed of these basic questions. What am I trying to say and why does it matter? Has some other writer said this more elegantly and am I trying to “correct” their elegance ( cue EGO, right? )? How long have I really thought through my writing, my strategies, my claims and conclusions? Am I just dashing out some half-baked idea, or have I subjected the idea to hours of brainstorm outlining, note taking, and reading other writers pontificating on similar ideas or subjects? Why am I writing one sentence paragraphs? Do I employ methods and practices that contribute to an overall sound structure? Can I correctly define what gerunds, participles, and nounal phrases are?

Some of the questions are about structure. Some of the questions are conceptual or cognitive in nature. And some questions pertain to basic grammar and rhetoric principles of effective writing. It is my belief that the writer correctly identifies the pernicious influence of ego, feedback loops, and followers. I would add what interpreters of statistics would tern the non-negligible factor of “breezy” and conversational writing style. This style is like popcorn or candy cotton. It’ll fill you full of air.

    Andrew Wollard

    Written by

    Former PhD student ( History, without degree ) and MFA graduate. Disciple of historians and writers everywhere.

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