departmentofwriting-blog

[departmentofwriting-blog]

Is writing really thinking?

I've just read a weekly email newsletter from writing coach Daphne Gray-Grant (daphne@publicationcoach.com) in which she makes the point that starting your writing without having done the thinking is a recipe for failure.

I agree. (I agree with most of what Daphne, an eminently sensible and elegant writer, says.) But I'd add a rider. Once you start writing, not only should you think hard about how to say what you've done all that thinking about, you should also continue thinking about whether what you think is still what you think.

OK, let me explain. Before I start writing, I generally have a pretty good idea what I want to say. But I almost always find that as I write, my thinking gets adjusted. I question that idea that previously looked impregnable. I soften my stance on that score, and firm up my attitude on that one. By the time I'm finished, my thinking is not quite the same as it was when I started.

Don't start writing without a clear idea of what you want to say. But don't get so attached to those ideas that you can't adust your position as your thinking unfolds in the act of writing.

Is writing thinking? Damn straight it is. That, for me, is one of its greatest pleasures.

[departmentofwriting-blog]

A peace pact with grammar watchers

I have little patience with the so-called grammar police - people who make up nonsense rules like 'never start a sentence with a conjunction' or 'never split an infinitive'. But I'm softening my stance towards those who insist that a good knowledge of grammar is important if you want to write well.

Here's the thing. If you're really committed to becoming a powerful writer, the intellectual effort and time needed to grasp this stuff pays off. A person who learns what a parenthetical clause is suddenly has a new-found power to vary the shape and pace of their sentences - and to write with greater clarity, the greatest virtue of all in business writing.

Note the implied distinction here between prescriptive and descriptive grammar. I'm recommending the latter with only a light sprinkling of the former. Descriptive grammar focusses on how the language works in the hands of users, as opposed to prescriptive grammar which is all about how someone thinks it should be used. Descriptive grammar is like the Grey's Anatomy of language, and understanding it is useful because it helps you diagnose your own writing and begin to prescribe your own treatments - if that's not stretching the analogy too far.

Sure, learning grammar can be tedious and, at times, demanding. But so can learning to drive a car or play the piano. The question is: what are you committed to? If you're really determined to be one of those rare people whose writing seems to sing, that's going to take effort. My advice, get to work.

[departmentofwriting-blog]

On a mission

Textuality is dedicated to everyone who's interested in writing clear, compelling, elegant prose. In my book, you're a hero.