Why Being a Good Writer is Not Necessarily About Being Good at Writing
And what actually matters.
When I was younger, I used to think that being a writer meant being able to pack as much meaning, nuance, imagery, style, etc. into a sentence as possible. Now, I have a name for this type of writing: maximalism. And it’s not always a good thing - but it is the thing that is confused with “being a good writer” quite often.
Maximalism can be great. Some writers craft complex sentences that startle you, make you want to get them tattooed on your skin forever, stretch out the normal ways of saying things and make them feel new and even absurd. But those sentences only work if the person is already fulfilling some other quotas.
In my opinion, being a good writer is more about these things:
- Being a Good Person
By “good person” I don’t mean “moral person,” someone pious and eager to please who goes to church on Sundays. By “good person,” I mean someone observant, empathetic, and interested in making connections between disparate things - and people.
I’m not trying to say there is such a thing as an objectively good person. I just mean that when we read a piece of writing, we are not buying into the author’s style or syntax as much as we are buying into their point of view. The more you work on cultivating your beliefs and habits, the more infectious your point of view will be.
You might say, “I like Bret Easton Ellis’ writing, and he writes about drug-using hipsters and murderers. This negates your point.” I think that writers who help us understand the thought processes of “bad people” are doing a good thing. They’re helping us understand what can feel impossible (or taboo) to relate to. It takes character - and bravery - to do that.
2. Being a Professional
An editor friend and I were talking recently about how we would rather work with good-but-not-great writers who meet deadlines and deliver clean copy than avant-garde, sloppy geniuses any day.
People with an absurd amount of natural talent sometimes get lazy, and don’t feel compelled to pay their dues by learning things like self-editing, grammar, style or dealing with timelines.
This isn’t to say that grammar is everything. I think grammar is fairly overrated, and having a handle on grammar is often mistaken for “being a good writer” as well. But working in a professional context, you should learn to understand the style guidelines (if there are any) and use them.
3. Having a Sense of Distance from Your Work
Good writers don’t mind chopping up their work and distilling it down to what matters. Sometimes it can be hard to edit down something you’ve created. It’s your baby. But when you learn to sit and whittle at something until it starts to make sense, you’re going to say something a lot more interesting.
Beyond that, when you have distance from your work, you are more willing to take chances with it. It can be paralyzing to feel like every single thing you make is charged with representing exactly who you are and how you want to be seen.
4. You Have to Write a Lot
A lot of great writers don’t. A lot of mediocre writers do. A lot of mediocre writers are making a boatload of money from their writing.
5. Sounding Conversational without Being Ranty or Over-the-Top
Pretty much every brand style guide says, “Be conversational. Talk how real people talk.” This is good advice generally, and one of the first things that came to mind.
But in some ways, that directive is not always helpful. If you listen to actual conversations, or read a transcription, people talk very inelegantly. They stutter, they have run-on sentences, they use hedges and say “like” constantly, they ruminate and rant.
Reflecting this in writing often comes off as ranty (too much swearing) or patronizing (too much “teenspeak”) more than conversational.
A better directive might be to cast off the rules your English teacher taught you about split infinitives and ending sentences with prepositions and write what sounds right in your mind. And keep it simple.
The whole point I’m making about writing has some parallels with the debate about flat vs. skeuomorphic aesthetics going on in the design world.
Skeuomorphic design comes from a belief that designs should look analogous to what we see in the real world, and it often results in decadent graphics full of every special effect in Photoshop.
Flat design is more about restraint and minimalism. There is something more child-like, democratic and fun about flat design’s simple uses of color and shapes.
When we think of good artists, we think of people who can draw and make something that “looks just like real life.” But many great designers are people who can make something as simple to understand as possible.
What I’m trying to say is that to write, you don’t need to be able to write sentences that glow with the writing equivalent of four Photoshop filters. You just need to have something to say, and the restraint and self-discipline to say it clearly.
This is hard in its own way - but hopefully this will make people who gape at slam poetry and Shakespeare feel like they don’t have to write that way to try writing.
