Some Random Thoughts On Writing

After reading the first two chapters of 'On Writing Well' by William Zinsser, I would like to lay down some of my random thoughts on writing.

• The author says 'rewriting is the essence of writing.'- I used to disagree with this statement since I initially thought that rewriting made my original essay worse. However, I have not realised until today that I have been rewriting my old essays for the past two weeks such as 'On Birthday' and 'On Useless Knowledge'. Both of them I attempted to write in my old blog before, but they were added with new materials and presented in a more elegant and beautiful manner in this new blog.

• Another author named Dr. Brock who Zinsser mentions in the book says that he does not write when he is in bad mood. But Zinsser suggests the otherwise. 'If your job is to write every day, then you should learn to do it like any other job.' Zinsser also mentions that writing is not an art, but a craft, and a professional writer must by all mean stick to it every day. - I am afraid I cannot wholly subscribe to Dr. Brock's opinion. All the arts, including paintings, literature, poems, music, and films, are best when written in pessimistic moods. I do not think Shakespeare could write such great works his life was surrounded by happiness. John Wilmot could not write such good poems if he did not feel remorse for his too much engagement in sexual pleasure. There would be no blue period if Picasso was not beset by melancholy. Beethoven could not produce such heavenly tunes that contain such intellectual and emotional depth if his life was free from obstacles. As to whether Zinsser is right, I am not so sure at the moment. But I tend to agree with him that practice breeds perfection. No one is born to be a good writer. We have to keep rewriting our works to achieve the status of divinity.

• The last thing is Zinsser's hatred of meaningless jargons and useless terminologies. It always fascinates me when writers from the academia, like most German philosophers, fall in love with jargon. They do not only invite confusions to their readers, but also lead us to suspect whether they actually mean what they say. So thought-provoking and interesting are the thoughts their philosophy generates, the necessities of jargon have even rendered me more curious. Zinsser further goes on to say, 'the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that's already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what.' This reminds me of George Orwell's golden rules laid down in 'Politics and English'. Zinsser, like Orwell, condemns political and business writings in the highest degree. On this, I cannot agree more. But I have started to doubt some of these rules after I encountered the works of Alain de Botton's. He is a writer who clearly understands how to employ the 'art' of writing. He is also in the habit of using 'fancy' words which seems too far from obeying rules such as 'Every word that serves no function' and 'Every long word that could be a short word'. But de Botton invites us to an alternative way to perceive writing. He introduces to us a quality called 'beauty'. He urges us to feel rather than just read, to hold on to the beauty of words so they do not just speak to our minds, but communicate with our souls. He grasps our natural temperament and humanises every inanimate object to overwhelm us, compels us to confront sublimity superior to ourselves. It may be good to follow the advice of Zinsser's, yet it is divine to write like de Botton.

Just a few thoughts.

W