Lately I’ve been reading books on how to improve your writing. Many suggest the idea that if you don’t do what they say, then it’s not good writing.
Maybe it’s true. You can’t get your message across if you can’t structure your sentences. Good writing must be clear, concise, and engage your readers in a way that convinces them to keep reading.
Editing and revising is also important. There’s a secret among writers that it’s better to get your first draft— however sloppy— out of your head as soon as possible, because revising your draft is where most effort is needed.
But there’s something more valuable than clarity and structure, something that wasn’t found in the writing books I read, but in my favorite books.
What separates good writing from great writing is the story it’s telling.
There’s a difference between engagement and storytelling: engagement prioritizes getting the reader invested in the content; storytelling prioritizes resonating with the reader.
Storytelling can be a way to engage readers, but not all engaging writing tells a story.
One of my favorite writings came from my favorite author, Henry David Thoreau:
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
Walden (1854)
Another one of my favorites is from William Strunk Jr.:
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
Elements of Style (1959)
Without knowing what their books are about, you get a general understanding of what they could be. Great writing gives you context on what the subject is. It resonates with the reader through its storytelling.
Don’t make an attempt at good writing. Make an attempt at great writing. Nothing short of memorable has been accomplished when aiming for great.
If you want great writing, then tell stories.
Here’s my inspiration for the day.