Why we write the way we do
Writing proficiently and understanding the mechanics of the writing craft are two different things.
?This is one of the fundamentals I try to explain when I teach writing.
?Every day writers concern themselves with the stitching and weaving of words given the capacity of their minds, most times without comprehending the actual process and structure that informs their writing style.
It is also particularly true with most established writers.
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Three factors largely determine why we write in a particular way: Muse, Habits, and Books.
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Muse
Have you ever been faced with a blank mind while trying to write, then suddenly you’re full of ideas, and your moving hands start to hit the keypads happily?
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That’s the muse—an inspiration that metaphorically leads you by the hand to write. It takes you from one sentence to another, then to a page, and perhaps to writing a complete book.
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Novelists call it the creative muse.
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After writing most of his great books, driven by the muse, William Faulkner, one of America’s greatest writers, considered it a demon. As he puts it: A writer is a creature driven by demons.
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Habits
Habit makes the writer.
?The ability to write consistently over a while enables you to write in a certain way.
Writers who constantly write creatively are liable to stick to the creative approach. And those conversant with business writing will scribble letters in business fashion.
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Remember Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 rule of practice—the ability to achieve mastery in a given vocation.
A writer known to have crossed such threshold in a particular genre of writing is liable to stick to such style for life.
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Books
Ever found yourself writing like the last author you read?
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No writer has influenced my writing style so much as Cormac McCarthy. It was after I read his book “The Road’’.
Cormac’s style is the polysyndeton—and for a time I found this pattern of writing competing with my natural voice whenever I tried to vomit words into pages.
Having an in-depth understanding of various writing styles is also beneficial. Books on writing have helped me immensely to grasping the essential mechanics of the art.
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The following are four of the best writing books I have read
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2.????On Writing – Stephen King
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3.????On Writing Well – William Zinsser
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4.????Sense of Style – Steven Pinker