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  • (Score: 2) by mendax on Wednesday September 24 2014, @07:33PM

    by mendax (2840) on Wednesday September 24 2014, @07:33PM (#97844)

    I was digging through some old boxes and found some papers I'd written in high school and college that my mom had saved. I was blown away by how good my writing was. I mean, I was using clever wordplay, my vocabulary was amazing, but none of it masked the thesis -- it was really shocking. Yes, there's a bit of selection bias (my mom wouldn't have saved my terrible stuff), but... I'm no longer capable of writing at that level. Not even occasionally.

    That's strange. I guess the difference between you and me is that I've never really stopped writing, at least not for very long. I graduated from grad school not because I was a great student but because I can write great academic papers, papers that contain the meat the profs wanted but weren't dry like so much academic schlock. I've always hated that and resolved never to emulate it. Apparently, my profs also disliked it.

    Later in life I started a long correspondence relationship with a person who is now a close friend. Even though we only live 80 miles apart and have each other's phone numbers, we usually communicate via the postal service. I eventually started corresponding with prisoners and have come to know a couple very intelligent ones who appreciate a long, well-written letters that discuss intellectual endeavors that most people, inside and outside of jails and prisons, would not pay any attention to.

    But I think the thing that has helped me become a better writer over the years is reading great literature. Charles Dickens, in my mind, is the great writer in the English language since Shakespeare. I would do well if I could emulate a tenth as well his writing skill in his later novels. I've learned a lot from reading his books. And, of course, there is Mark Twain, even when he is not being funny. I'm going to make an attempt to read a well-regarded translation of Tolstoy's massive War and Peace soon. I think all these things are the key to being a good writer.

    --
    It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
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