AuntShecky
02-07-2014, 12:21 AM
“What you write is yours and nobody else’s. Take your talent as far as you can and guard it with your life. Only you know how far that is; no editor knows. Writing well means believing in your writing and believing in yourself, taking risks, daring to be different, pushing yourself to excel. You can only write as well as you can make yourself write.”–William Zinsser
How to Write With Confidence
Part One of Two
Every writer, successful or struggling, has experienced frustration at some point in his career. Few of us have ever escaped creative frustration, the notorious “fear of the blank page,” and the inevitable rejection. It is the rare writer who has never asked herself “Oh, why did I ever think I could write?” Yet for most of us, we have no choice: we can’t stop writing.
One way to gain confidence in writing is practical and – forgive me – obvious. Mastering the basic tools of the trade - the basic rules of grammar and usage - can go a long way toward alleviating the fear of making an amateurish mistake. With learning, practice, and time, facility with the vagaries of our beautiful language can almost become second nature, and thus no longer a cause of worry.
Not only should our use of the tools be correct, we should also strive to use them effectively, if not artfully. That’s the next step toward gaining confidence: how can I make my writing the best that I can make it?
Some general tips toward that end:
–- Write in clear English. This is solid advice from Zinsser, E.B. White among other experts.
–- Never underestimate the power of a vigorous verb. Choose active, rather than passive,
constructions. Avoid overusing forms of the verb “to be” and other linking verbs that depend on nouns or modifiers. Avoid using adjectives and adverbs as mere decorations and enlist them only when they can contribute to the meaning of the sentence.
–A writer does the reader a service by providing him with “concrete details,” Zinsser says. These are “easier to picture than vague abstractions.” Another problem with abstractions, those amorphous ideals –- “love, freedom, patriotism, happiness,” –- ad infinitum is that the same word can mean something different to each reader. An ambiguous abstraction can muddy the waters which the writer desperately desires to make clear and drown the precise point which she is trying to float.
–- Both Zinsser and E. B. White maintain that short words and sentences are easier to read. That is undeniable to a certain extent, but at the same time we want to avoid choppiness or monotony. When the prose is too “simple”, there is a danger that it might sound simple-minded or juvenile (at one point in his book, Zinsser warns against writing down to the reader or patronizing him.) With practice a writer may strike a kind of “rhythm” by varying the lengths and structures of his sentences.
–Speaking of sentences, in the process of writing, one may find herself spending an inordinate amount of time on just one pesky sentence. According to Zinsser, there’s a “quick fix” for that:
“Surprisingly often a difficult problem in a sentence can be solved by simply getting rid of it. Unfortunately this solution is usually the last one that occurs to the writer trying to disentangle himself. First he will put the troublesome phrase through all kinds of exertions -- moving it some other part of the sentence, trying to rephrase it, adding new words to clarify the thought or to oil whatever is stuck. These laborious efforts can only make the situation worse, and the writer is left to conclude that there is no solution to the problem. Not a comforting thought. When you find yourself at such an impasse, look at the troublesome element and ask, ‘Do I need it at all?’ Probably you don’t. It was trying to do an unnecessary job all along –- that’s why it was giving you so much grief. Remove it and watch the sentence spring to life and breathe normally. It’s the quickest possible cure and, very often, the best.
I, for one, can’t refute Zinsser’s argument. Writing is just like an seldom-worn garment in your closet or a questionabl leftover in your refrigerator: when in doubt, throw it out.
Knowing when to cut or delete is a mark of maturity among writers. It is also a sign of courage. As Isaac Bashevis Singer remarked, “The wastebasket is the writer’s best friend.”
Not being afraid to cut sentences, paragraphs, even entire passages out of one’s writing might seem antithetical, if not counter-intuitive, to a writer wishing to achieve confidence. Yet revising, rewriting, editing, and proofreading are essential, if not mandatory. For a handy guide to rewriting skills, click here (http://grammar.about.com/b/2014/01/24/tips-for-becoming-a-better-rewriter.htm?nl=1).
Following through with revisions and polishing up the work until it is in optimal shape should help to lessen any lingering doubts the writer may have about its quality. The goal remember, is to “write as well as you can make yourself write.” That includes a willingness to make changes and even dump your “darlings,” because mediocre writing can usually be made good, and good writing can often be made better.
Apart from to developing skill in the techniques of writing, there remains another problem involved in achieving confidence, the possible solution for which will be suggested in the second part of this thread, which continues immediately below.
How to Write With Confidence
Part One of Two
Every writer, successful or struggling, has experienced frustration at some point in his career. Few of us have ever escaped creative frustration, the notorious “fear of the blank page,” and the inevitable rejection. It is the rare writer who has never asked herself “Oh, why did I ever think I could write?” Yet for most of us, we have no choice: we can’t stop writing.
One way to gain confidence in writing is practical and – forgive me – obvious. Mastering the basic tools of the trade - the basic rules of grammar and usage - can go a long way toward alleviating the fear of making an amateurish mistake. With learning, practice, and time, facility with the vagaries of our beautiful language can almost become second nature, and thus no longer a cause of worry.
Not only should our use of the tools be correct, we should also strive to use them effectively, if not artfully. That’s the next step toward gaining confidence: how can I make my writing the best that I can make it?
Some general tips toward that end:
–- Write in clear English. This is solid advice from Zinsser, E.B. White among other experts.
–- Never underestimate the power of a vigorous verb. Choose active, rather than passive,
constructions. Avoid overusing forms of the verb “to be” and other linking verbs that depend on nouns or modifiers. Avoid using adjectives and adverbs as mere decorations and enlist them only when they can contribute to the meaning of the sentence.
–A writer does the reader a service by providing him with “concrete details,” Zinsser says. These are “easier to picture than vague abstractions.” Another problem with abstractions, those amorphous ideals –- “love, freedom, patriotism, happiness,” –- ad infinitum is that the same word can mean something different to each reader. An ambiguous abstraction can muddy the waters which the writer desperately desires to make clear and drown the precise point which she is trying to float.
–- Both Zinsser and E. B. White maintain that short words and sentences are easier to read. That is undeniable to a certain extent, but at the same time we want to avoid choppiness or monotony. When the prose is too “simple”, there is a danger that it might sound simple-minded or juvenile (at one point in his book, Zinsser warns against writing down to the reader or patronizing him.) With practice a writer may strike a kind of “rhythm” by varying the lengths and structures of his sentences.
–Speaking of sentences, in the process of writing, one may find herself spending an inordinate amount of time on just one pesky sentence. According to Zinsser, there’s a “quick fix” for that:
“Surprisingly often a difficult problem in a sentence can be solved by simply getting rid of it. Unfortunately this solution is usually the last one that occurs to the writer trying to disentangle himself. First he will put the troublesome phrase through all kinds of exertions -- moving it some other part of the sentence, trying to rephrase it, adding new words to clarify the thought or to oil whatever is stuck. These laborious efforts can only make the situation worse, and the writer is left to conclude that there is no solution to the problem. Not a comforting thought. When you find yourself at such an impasse, look at the troublesome element and ask, ‘Do I need it at all?’ Probably you don’t. It was trying to do an unnecessary job all along –- that’s why it was giving you so much grief. Remove it and watch the sentence spring to life and breathe normally. It’s the quickest possible cure and, very often, the best.
I, for one, can’t refute Zinsser’s argument. Writing is just like an seldom-worn garment in your closet or a questionabl leftover in your refrigerator: when in doubt, throw it out.
Knowing when to cut or delete is a mark of maturity among writers. It is also a sign of courage. As Isaac Bashevis Singer remarked, “The wastebasket is the writer’s best friend.”
Not being afraid to cut sentences, paragraphs, even entire passages out of one’s writing might seem antithetical, if not counter-intuitive, to a writer wishing to achieve confidence. Yet revising, rewriting, editing, and proofreading are essential, if not mandatory. For a handy guide to rewriting skills, click here (http://grammar.about.com/b/2014/01/24/tips-for-becoming-a-better-rewriter.htm?nl=1).
Following through with revisions and polishing up the work until it is in optimal shape should help to lessen any lingering doubts the writer may have about its quality. The goal remember, is to “write as well as you can make yourself write.” That includes a willingness to make changes and even dump your “darlings,” because mediocre writing can usually be made good, and good writing can often be made better.
Apart from to developing skill in the techniques of writing, there remains another problem involved in achieving confidence, the possible solution for which will be suggested in the second part of this thread, which continues immediately below.