Sit Down and Bleed : Holy Grail of Good Writing

What Makes a Good Writer Good?

TL;DR ? Go to the end.

Hanging upside down with gym equipment is what Dan Brown does to write better. He also keeps an hourglass on his desk to remind him to do crunches, sit-ups and push-ups after each hour of writing. If that doesn't sounds quirky enough stomach this - Victor Hugo the brilliant French novelist once bought a bottle of ink and locked himself in a room and went on to write “The Hunchback of Norte Dame”. He didn’t even had a change of clothes except for a grey shawl. Incredibly odd, isn’t it. So it a prerequisite to have a quirk or be a little off to be a good writer ? I have read almost all the books on good writing. Let me tell you the secret formula. ?

What does it take to be an author of a book to be called later as a masterpiece. Let us examine this puzzle. Some authors make it to the top thanks to pure talent and natural genius that allows them to create incredibly engaging stories, immersive fictional worlds, and strong characters. It is hard to pin a winning formula to their success. But there is definitely something. Some authors say they write what they would like to to read others say it is shear hard work, work after work, honing their skills, mastering their art and getting closer to the perfection after each written page.???

There is always a weird side to a writer. It could be a strict routine of rising before the sun and cranking ten pages everyday, day after day or writing just to have fun, no deadlines no rituals. There are countless roads leading to the destination called good writing. But one thing is sure that good writing is crystal clear. Clarity is mark of genius and is a superpower.?“A word after word after a word is power” says Margaret Atwood. The path to clear writing is clear thinking. Thinking clearly is spotting fallacies and rooting them out one by one until there’s nothing more to question. Clear thinking leads to clear writing. Writing clearly means you can walk somebody through a complicated process with simple language. Having ego prevents clear thoughts. Without intellectual humility, you cannot understand both side of the argument, and the thinking will be flawed. If the thoughts are not coherent then the writing cannot be clear. Understanding the ignorance is beginning of good thinking and the resultant good writing work. Ernest Hemingway said “As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand”. EB White wrote Charlotte’s Web after watching a spider spin a web and add sack on his farm. He said “The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear”. ?

Nineteen eighty-four a dystopian tale by George Orwell is considered as the most influential book of twentieth century. Writers live twice. Once in their own head and then on paper. As the great French philosopher and author Albert Camus says “The purpose of writer is to keep civilisation from destroying itself”. Great authors are missionaries not mercenaries. Authors has have a clear, monomaniacal focus to get clear message on paper without any clutter.

James Clear, the accomplished writer of Atomic Habits says “change that seems small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you are willing to stick with them for years”. The aggregation of marginal gains says that if you can get one percent better each day for one year, you will end up thirty seven times better by the time you are done. So you get what you repeat. Fix the input and the output will fix themselves, is a simple yet powerful concept.?Haruki Murakami says “The repetition itself becomes the important thing.” When Murakami is in writing mode for a novel, he get up at four in the morning and work for five to six hours. In the afternoon, he runs for ten kilometers or swim for fifteen hundred meters (or do both), then he reads a bit and listen to some music. And goes to bed at nine sharp.?He keeps this routine every day without variation. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. He mesmerises himself to reach a deeper state of mind. He believes that to hold to such repetition for so long — six months to a year — requires a good amount of mental and physical strength. In that sense, writing a long novel is like survival training.?

Khaled Hosseini puts it this way “You have to actually write. You have to write every day, and you have to write whether you feel like it or not. Perhaps most importantly, write for an audience of one — yourself. Write the story you need to tell and want to read. It’s impossible to know what others want so don’t waste time trying to guess. Just write about the things that get under your skin and keep you up at night”. That pretty much sums up well. Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison spoke in a interview on realising that she was more clear headed and open to writing before the sun rise: "I always get up and make a cup of coffee while it is still dark—it must be dark—and then I drink the coffee and watch the light come… And I realized that for me this ritual comprises my preparation to enter a space that I can only call non-secular”. Isaac Asimov, bestselling author of over 500 works of science fiction, followed a similarly regimented routine which he called his “candy-store hours”?after the candy store that his father opened. That store opened at 6am and closed at 1am every day, year-round and Asimov worked the same hours. There are many such accomplished writer who have their own unique writing ritual which as per them is their secret sauce in the delicious recipe of good writing. Maybe it is the aggregation of marginal gains through rituals and habits which makes a good authors good. Who knows, the jury is still out, the right ingredients to a good writing is still a mystery. Warren Buffet writes clear and compelling letters to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway annually. The letters are full of insights because he is passionate about what he does as a leader.?

Charles Dickens had a rigid writing routine and would be in his study by 8:30am every day. He would work through until midday for a brief lunch, after which he would work on till 2pm. Then, however, he would head out into the streets of London trying to find what he described as “some pictures I wanted to build upon”.???

If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write. Simple as that. All writers are voracious readers. Read a lot. Write a lot. Thats is the magic pill. Your favourite author will have a list of favourite author who will have their list of favourite author and so on. Ray Bradbury the famous author of “Fahrenheight 451” says "You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them”. Reading is the favourite activity of almost all of the great authors, of course after writing. “It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it ”?says Oscar Wilde. If authors were to come up with the?commandments of good writing “Read a lot. Write a lot” would be the first one. No disagreement on this one. Imagine a chef who hates to eat, an artist who’s never been to a gallery. A musician who hates music. It’s not credible — neither is a writer who doesn’t read. Jk Rowling said "I do?believe?something very?magical?can happen when you read a good?book”. This is true for writers too. Indeed books are a uniquely portable magic. Reading and writing are two sides of same coin, there is a deep relationship better the two. Reading make a better writer. Anne Lamott?points out, the converse is also true – writing makes you a better reader. One reads with a deeper appreciation and concentration, knowing now how hard writing is, especially how hard it is to make it look effortless. You begin to read with a writer’s eyes. You focus in a new way. You study how someone portrays his or her version of things in a way that is new and bold and original. When you read anything there is a process of unconscious learning going on. Every book you pick up has some lessons to offer and the bad book have more to teach than the good ones. ?

Stephen King suggests aspiring writers read wherever and whenever possible. Reading is the creative centre of a writer’s life. He tells that I take a book with me everywhere I go, and find there are all sorts of opportunities to dip in. The trick is to teach yourself to read in small sips as well as in long swallows. Waiting rooms were made for books – of course! But so are theatre lobbies before the show, long and boring checkout lines, and everyone’s favourite, the john. You can even read while you’re driving, thanks to the audiobook revolution. As for all the wonderful radio you will be missing, come on – how many times can you listen to Deep Purple sing “Highway Star”? Neil Gaiman when asked in an interviews says inspiration comes from desperation, deadlines most of all ideas comes from confluence of daily observation. You see there is a whole new world of books to be explored.???

TL;DR

Good writing is not easy. Every writer is odd in his or her own way. Read a lot. Write a lot. Think in between. Clearly thinking is an absolute must and writing ritual is an added advantage. Pick your poison. Whatever works.??

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.?