Writing for Pleasure
How do you write better?
An eternal question, a constant battle inside a writer’s mind– how do I refine my craft, write compelling stories? It seems almost everyone has their opinions on the topic– from celebrated authors to your average reader.
The suggestions range from catchy titles to appropriate formatting, to grammar, or to the novelty of your prose.
What if I tell you, that all you need to care about is writing for pleasure?
Of course, no one wants to write for themselves only, and you should write for an ever-widening audience. But if you are not finding joy in the process of writing, if you don’t feel the emotion that your text is expressing, if it’s not connecting with you meaningfully–then, your writing ain’t good.
I understand there are different reasons to write. Professional writers (I don’t understand the term very clearly, but I assume folks who write for a living are professionals) do write books, articles, prose, poems at the request of others, on-demand. But I will argue, these folks have already developed their crafts, and understand the mechanics of writing so they know what they are doing. For the vast majority of us, that’s not the case.
I am an amateur writer and I don’t depend on creative writing to earn a living. But I aim to earn enough through my writing and have fun in the process. Being an avid student and a pro-reader myself, I asked the question: What is a good piece of writing that gives me pleasure?
I re-read my favorite books, and articles to find the answer on my own.
Here are my findings for the mechanics of good writing:
Good writers expand an expression
whether they are writing non-fiction or novels, good writers don’t just introduce an idea or theme– they expand on it. When the readers start an article or a fiction, they generally know what the writing is about. But a good writer then presents to the reader a topic from the main theme or genre– and, expands the ideas till they reach a sense of fulfillment.
Take Michio Kaku’s approach to expand on the idea of Time Travel, for example. Kaku is known for his ability to explain plainly the complex phenomenon of physics, to the general audience. In his article The Physics of Time Travel, we know Kaku will address the question of whether time travel is even possible, separating science from fiction.
But note, he starts off by presenting a scene from H.G Wells’ famous novel, The Time Machine, which the majority of us know about. However, he then immediately introduced the readers to the theory of quantum gravity, with the caveat, that this very real branch of science can actually explain the weird phenomenon of time travel. Kaku weaves his magic, reeling in the readers with the introduction of giants of physics– Newton, Einstein, and Hawking– and slowly uncovering what each of them thought of the possibility of time travel: Newton thought it was impossible, Einstein intrigued us with the concepts of time contraction and expansion, while Hawking all but confirmed time travel (albeit reluctantly)– through his works. In his article, Kaku then introduces the practicalities of time travel and concludes by returning to the initial question: is time travel possible, at least, theoretically?
Yet, this technique of expanding an idea isn’t unique– many established and emerging writers employ it with good effects, whether you are reading Richard Dawkins, Bob Woodward, Stephen King, or Wilbur Smith.
Follow an idea– expand it, explain it and return to your original topic, you will make reading more pleasurable.
Good writers communicate with their readers constantly through the text
This concept is more subtle, but an important aspect of good writing. Imagine you are talking in front of an audience– whatever may be the occasion or topic– you can sense if your audience is engaged enough, starting to lose interest or hooked to your story. You have the control to either shorten or extend an expression, just sufficiently enough, to keep the people engaged. But a writer of a book or a piece doesn’t have that luxury of tweaking content live– because once it’s published, it is out there. But good writers always ask the question to themselves, at the end of every single paragraph, every single sentence– am I overdoing it or did I leave the idea too early? After each paragraph, they pose the question: so what? And when the answer isn’t satisfactory, they will revise the writing.
In his famous book, The God Delusion, the technique of writer-playing-the-audience is on full display, by Dawkins. While discussing polytheism (the worship of multiple gods), Dawkins plays the reader, and asks, “How did the Greeks, Romans and the Vikings cope with such polytheological conundrums? Was Venus just another name for Aphrodite, or were they two distinct goddesses of love? Was Thor with his hammer a manifestation of Wotan, or a separate God?” Here, at this point of juicy questioning by the reader, Dawkins the writer reappears, and answers, “Who cares? Life is too short to be bothered with the distinction between one figment of the imagination and many”. Such anticipated questions and responses elevate the reading experience and keep the reader intrigued.
Good writers research their subjects, before writing about them
This probably comes as a common attribute of a good writer, but trust me, there are many writers out there– experienced even– who would not research the topic of their writing well. A seasoned reader will immediately know poorly researched writing, from a thoroughly researched one. Just read Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, and you will know. Brown is neither a Da Vinci scholar, nor is he a member of the secret group, Opus Dei. Yet, his thorough research on these topics is on full display in his books.
Successful writers draw inspiration from personal anecdotes/true stories: Write what you know is an adage. Of course, writers mine their experiences, collect information and inspiration from personal anecdotes. But a good writer would do more with personal stories– instead of writing memoirs all the time, they would develop story ideas and push the narratives, with personal insights and experiences. Bronnie Ware writes eloquently about the deathbed regrets, especially in her popular book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. Being a hospice nurse, she heard quite a lot from her patients who were on their deathbeds and used her own experiences to elevate the writing. The result is a masterpiece.
Good writers write for pleasure, not fandom or money or a movie deal
To make this argument, I will revisit an interview of one of my all-time favorite authors of fiction, Wilbur Smith.
“The characters in my books were people that I lived with over a long period of time and developed them and their families so I don’t think that anyone else on a screen or attempting to draw them, for instance, will get it exactly to what I saw and what I feel about it. They are like my children and all of us in our own children can see things that other people can’t – believe they’re better or worse than other people think they are – so that’s the same with my characters. No one can put on the screen what I imagined in my head.”
Smith was true to this commitment— except for a couple instances in his long career as a writer, spanning four decades, he never wrote for any purpose other than storytelling.
The point here is that while a piece of writing can be transformed into anything— film, plays or TV series— a good writer focuses on the art of writing and writing only.