Why We Should Just Write
A Plea for more writing (with some useful guidelines)
Writing is easy.
But, writing well? That’s hard, akin to finding Polar bears in the Himalayas. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. In fact, I say we need to try. Because it is so worth the struggle.
So, why should we write?
1. Because we need to.
Nowadays, we are writing a lot of things: reports, emails, status updates, comments, messages, love letters, tweets, applications. And for some of them, good writing is crucial. A typo in a tweet is embarrassing. A poorly written job application is a tragedy. A sloppy love letter… that’s disastrous. (The other party might find it cute though; that is, if they reciprocate your feelings.)
In today’s world, we are being called upon to do a lot of writing, so why not get better at it?
In fact, it might even help you build a good rapport with people around you. Because better writing results in better communication. We are able to clearly explain what’s on our mind to the other person. No confusions. No misunderstandings.
That is the second reason.
2. To communicate better
We write to communicate. It might be to a large audience, a single person or even to ourselves. Still, writing is an activity that promotes reflection and clarity. It’s meditative. Because, when you put pen down on paper, you are forced to be clear about what you’re saying; you’re forced to think about it. There’s no room for yada-yada or so and so.
Things become clear, most importantly — to yourself.
3. For our own selfish self
George Orwell said it best in his essay “Why I write”, that one of the reasons writers write is “Sheer egoism: the desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death”, selfish reasons like that.
And well, Orwell has succeeded to some extent. I think we can agree that he was a pretty clever guy, we still talk about him and we remember him 66 years after his death.
In fact, we remember Shakespeare, 400 years after his death!
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” — Benjamin Franklin
The above quote is the only way we (currently) know of to live forever, or at least for a long time: Write something worth reading or do something worth writing (about). Even Gods need holy books to be remembered.
“But”, you say, “I’m not Shakespeare, or Dickens or Tolstoy”. And well, I don’t have an argument for that.
But, I say, perhaps it doesn’t matter. The cavemen who left the above prints probably didn’t think: “Oh, these will stay around for a long time and make people aware of my existence.” They just did it.
I think that’s how we should approach writing as well. We just need to do it: leave hand-prints all over the place; it doesn’t matter whether anyone sees them or not, whether our existence is validated or not. Whether it’s “art” or not.
4. Because it’s there!
The most powerful reason why we should write is: we don’t need a reason to write.
We should write because we can, because it’s there: these symbols, characters that cluster into words which then string together into ideas, thoughts, stories — magic! Yes, it is magic!
You can think of millions of reasons to not write: I’m not good at it, I don’t have the time, I don’t know what to write about, who would ever read it! when you don’t even need a reason to actually sit down and write. Okay, maybe make up one if you have to. It won’t matter because that reason will probably evolve or change over time. The only constant will be you sitting down to write. And that’s fine.
Some Guidelines
To make this article worth more than random ramblings, let me briefly point out some “guidelines” — insights if you will — that I have come to know about in the past few months.
Bear in mind, I am a newbie — or “noob” if you like — and so these are beginner level “tips”.
Also, I’ll mostly just link to other better resources.
1. Grammar and spelling are important.
Its so disheartening to see a good piece ruined due to it’s grammar.
If the above sentence made you wince, you know the pain.
But, mocking someone else’s grammar and spelling, I feel, is unfair — unless of course, it’s at a fatal level…
It’s unfair, because we tend to follow our intuition and our gut feeling when it comes to grammar and spelling. Does it feel write? That’s the test we use. And sometimes our intuition is wrong.
A few days back, I wrote “Everyone are” when it should be “Everyone is” as ‘Everyone’ is a singular. But, my brain is wired to think otherwise. The notion that ‘Everyone’ is a plural has been — wrongly — embedded in my mind. Everyone has problems like that.
And this, I find frightening. Because I might be sure that something is right when it’s not. Because scarier than a villain who knows his actions are evil, is a lunatic who thinks his actions are virtuous.
It’s hard because it’s a fight against this inner feeling, a sometimes deluded inner feeling, but it’s a fight worth fighting.
[1] Grammar Girl,
[2] English StackExchange
[3] Some common mistakes,
and Google…
2. Punctuation is important
We tend to neglect some of these punctuation marks when we should be making good use of them.
Semicolons: Usually to separate sentences that could stand on their own but are better together.
It was a day before the submission date; It was time to begin the report.
Colons: Usually to introduce or define something. Could also be used to separate things of unequal weight.
There are three things that I love more than anything else in the world: my family, my friends, and my computer.
Binay missed only one friend: Nishan.
An em-dash is typically used as a stand-in for a comma or parenthesis to separate out phrases.
- Against all odds, Leicester — the newly promoted team — won the league.
An en-dash is used to connect values in a range or that are related.
- pages 31–32 may be relevant
A hyphen is used to join words in a compound construction, or separate syllables of a word
- pro-American, em-dash
3. Aim for conciseness
It is a cliche but less is more. Normally, we write longer than we need to. It is easier to write long.
I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead. ~ Mark Twain [?]
So, we need to look at each word and question its purpose in being there. Is it necessary? Can I drop it? Can I drop this whole paragraph where I meander without making a point?
There are many ways to go about this and there are some things we can do to this end:
i) We can minimize our use of adverbs.
Sometimes, we tend to use redundant ones.
He ran quickly.
The ‘quickly’ is redundant. Running implies — in fact necessitates — quickness.
[1] The case against adverbs
[2] The atrocity of adverbs
[3] Seriously, What’s so bad about adverbs?
[4] How to eliminate adverbs
ii) Minimize words such as ‘very’
As Late Robin Williams (or rather his character) says in the movie/book Dead Poet’s Society:
So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys — to woo women — and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also won’t do in your essays.
Mark Twain didn’t love ‘very’ very much.
Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.
Usually, when we use ‘very’, there might be a better alternative or we can remove it without much fuss. In fact, I read somewhere that omitting very can make what you’re saying powerful.
Instead of saying,”I’m very happy”, “I’m happy” might be stronger because ironically “happy” is emphasized more without the “very”. Or maybe, it’s just me.
[1] Five weak words to avoid
[2] 128 words to use instead of very
4. Improve Your Vocabulary
I guess it is self explanatory but a better vocabulary is a good thing to have: not because we can find fancy words to say, but so that we can choose the best words that make the writing simple and clear.
We circumvented the problem instead of solving it.
Here, use of other synonyms of circumvent (avoid, evade, etc) might not have the same feel.
Besides, words are beautiful. They are like people. Even though they might seem similar, there are some nuances. Appreciate them. Don’t judge. Because judging is easy — and lazy.
[1] Vocabulary.com
[2] Customary Quora Link
[3] And one more
5. When possible, avoid the passive voice
It is common to report a slip-up in the passive voice.
A mistake was made by me. Or simply: A mistake was made.
Phew! That’s how you dodge a bullet! It makes the sentence weak, shifts focus and sometimes makes things longer than they need to be. Perfect for those boring reports! But not for writing in general.
Of course, in academic/scientific writing, it is customary to use the passive form: The parameters were tweaked to find out some empirically optimum values. But that’s just to shift the focus from the experimenters, or authors to their work which trumps them in terms of importance.
[1] Prefer Active Verbs
[2] Passive Voice Handout
6. Vary the Sentence length
Please bear with me as I quote Gary Provost; I simply can’t put it in any better way.
This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals — sounds that say listen to this, it is important.
So write with a combination of short, medium, and long sentences. Create a sound that pleases the reader’s ear. Don’t just write words. Write music.
[1] Vary your sentence length
[2] How to use Sentence Variety (Awesome).
7. They don’t mean much
And the last “rule” is that there are no rules you can follow to write better, at least no hard-and-fast ones. Still, as they say, learn the rules before breaking them.
Like any other art form, good writing is hard to do and harder to explain. But perhaps this quote (by Hemingway?) might make a fair attempt:
There is nothing to it (writing). You just sit at the typewriter and bleed.
Yes. Writing is about pouring your heart out, being vulnerable. Letting other people into your mind, your thoughts, ideas. They might like it. They may not. Your writings may last or they may vanish. Still, when you write, you are creating and releasing parts of you: parts that you may keep to yourself or you may let out into the world. And say, “This is me”!
So, please write. Even if it’s gold, or shit. Even if your head hurts. Even if you don’t want to. Even if it doesn’t feel right…
Just write.
Some more useful links:
[1] How can I improve my writing?
[2] How to cut the clutter in writing?
[3] 16 ways to improve writing skills
[4] Most Common Writing mistakes
And finally, a collection of some marvelous write-ups about writing.
[5] The Most Delightful Articles About Writing You’ll Ever Read
( This was part of a Tech-Talk I gave at college among friends. I changed the title from “Write to Live” to its current one because that feels. Just. Right. :)
Also, if you want a home for some of your writings, and feel Zerone Magazine would be the right place, do send them over to us at ioezerone@gmail.com or you can submit a request right here on Medium.
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