WANISAN

Something I have been trying to get a better handle on lately, especially with my writing students, is the idea of what it really takes to make good writing.

I have a sort of credo, though I call it Professor Williams’ Law of good writing in class, hehheh, that goes like this:

Good writing is always specific.

Now, it does come with the warning that specific has to be related, and support the topic.

Think about the stories, movies, essays that you really enjoy.
Those are usually ones where the details are very clear, the more (related) information that’s available, the more you like the writing, dont’ you?

If the story was simply:

There was a big boat. It had many people on it. It hit something. It sank. Many people died. Some people lived.

You wouldn’t find that interesting, would you?
Yet, once we know the name of the ship, the Titanic, and the names of some of those on board, the details of why the voyage was seen to be as one of importance, the facts that the ship sailed without being prepared to handle pretty much any disaster, much less a catastrophic one, and that it hit an iceberg, and that other ships were nearby but unable to give assistance quickly enough, the story is much more interesting.

Millions of people watched this story in movie form, even though they knew the ending. Why? To get those details.

If we didn’t need details, we’d only get which team one the game instead of the scores, the box scores, the recaps, and these days on most major sports you can even get a digest version of the play by play. We don’t read the sports pages for the scores alone; we want the story, in detail.

Of course, there’s more to it than just providing details, but it’s a big step on the way to creating good writing. Try it. I’m sure your readers will like it, and you’ll enjoy the writing more.