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Writing in the time of Covid-19
Unsurprisingly I'm unable to sleep. Although my neighbourhood is quiet, protests have been searing America. Anger, fear, #BLM flaming the very air we breathe. I can't breathe. A man was lynched in broad daylight on Monday because he was black.
Unsurprisingly I'm unable to sleep. Although my neighbourhood is quiet, protests have been searing America. Anger, fear, #BLM flaming the very air we breathe. I can't breathe. A man was lynched in broad daylight on Monday because he was black.
I woke up at five o'clock having finally fallen asleep around two. One of the first tweets I read was a thread about agents and whether or not they should give feedback to writers. Whether or not publishers should offer writing workshops. It was an interesting thread but
it didn't address some of the core issues of why we have so few great writers today--great, meaning, original, diverse in thought and style, provocative, transforming, transporting--except in arena of literary fiction (the Booker prize writers, etc.).
The answer seems obvious
The answer seems obvious
to me.
Too many writers today who attend workshops to "learn how to write" are not being encouraged to read the canon of great literature, classical and contemporary.
Between 2004-2013 I took a number of writing classes even though I'd never taken any in my life before then.
Too many writers today who attend workshops to "learn how to write" are not being encouraged to read the canon of great literature, classical and contemporary.
Between 2004-2013 I took a number of writing classes even though I'd never taken any in my life before then.
I grew up in an era where, if you wanted to write, you read. You read widely, you read the canon. In the West, generally, you began with Cervantes' Don Quixote because it's considered the birth of the modern novel. Leaving aside one's feelings about Quixote as a character,
Cervantes uses meta narrative--the latest buzzword in contemporary literature--in a way that is shockingly now.
It's been said Erasmus read every book in print. A remarkable achievement but also not
It's been said Erasmus read every book in print. A remarkable achievement but also not
as daunting as it would be today. There were considerably fewer books back then.
Still, even if the fastest eidetic memory reader will never read every book ever published--and these days who would want to with so many badly written books stacked next to beauties--there are
Still, even if the fastest eidetic memory reader will never read every book ever published--and these days who would want to with so many badly written books stacked next to beauties--there are
books every writer should read if for no other reason than to learn how to write.
Why is that every art student, even after realism was thrown out of teaching studios and academies, was made to study art history, encouraged to visit museums? Why have modern composers studied
Why is that every art student, even after realism was thrown out of teaching studios and academies, was made to study art history, encouraged to visit museums? Why have modern composers studied
classical composers to learn their craft?
In this light, why are writers not being encouraged, first, to read the canon; second, to know their own voice; third, to understand the difference between the writer's voice and the narrative voice?
In this light, why are writers not being encouraged, first, to read the canon; second, to know their own voice; third, to understand the difference between the writer's voice and the narrative voice?
Anyway, the short answer to writing well and with originality is, read the canon; read poetry; read science; read essays. Listen to your voice. Read. Write. Listen to your voice. Repeat.
"Good writing is good writing across all types of genres."
"Good writing is good writing across all types of genres."
