while(self++) { #2 } // Clarity in Writing, as Art
I’ve been thinking about writing as a form of art.
It occurs to me that most forms of art relay some “thing.” It could be a carefully crafted thesis. It could be an emotion. It could be straight information. Ultimately, artists share something with the world. For me, art encompasses more than just the traditional tropes of performance and visual media. In the Computer Science class that I teach, I’ve been known to call code beautiful. If code is readable, modular, and extensible (and it works!), I feel immense satisfaction. It brings a smile a to my face. I see it as art, and it’s not uncommon for people who are passionate about great work in their (traditionally non-“art”-related) fields to see that work as art.
My most important aim when writing is expressing the underlying idea with clarity. Content is important to me, but form occupies an even bigger place in my mind. If what I’m trying to say is not presented well, then no one will understand the idea in the first place, no matter how good it is. Clarity in writing requires intuitive structure and accurate verbiage.
A good overall structure provides a (writer-guided) flow for absorbing ideas. Building an understandable progression of ideas is like building a puzzle — you build off of what you’ve already touched upon. It allows the readers to form mental maps to follow if/when they need to revisit ideas. Accurate verbiage is about choosing the exact word for a specific thought without being repetitive. Many words might have similar meanings, but nothing hits the spot better than the perfect word.
There is a lot more to good writing than just what I’ve mentioned here, and I certainly don’t claim any expertise. But I do know that clear writing is effective writing and effective writing is beautiful.
