A case for writing. Well
A case for writing. Well.
The Pen Is Mightier than the Sword : You might have come across this quote. The origins of this sentence dates back to the 1840s and was first used by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in his play about Cardinal Richelieu. PensExpress very aptly encapsulates the essence and the meaning of this as ideas that are expressed in writing can be much more consequential than violence. Words can influence and inspire countless people, and they can live on indefinitely.
The pen with which Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation has been realized to produce more significance than any Civil War rifle, warship, or battle.
In classical times, it was a belief that the written word had the power to survive “and transcend even the bloodiest events… even if they didn’t actually prevail against arms in the short term.”
Napoleon is another who is said to have compared words and weapons. “Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than 1,000 bayonets.”
There have been many such instances where political leaders and revolutionists have credited writing with much more superior power than guns and the army. Well, they are not entirely wrong. Writing has some superpower so much so that these leaders and revolutionists have so much faith in this.
Writing, as Wikipedia puts it is a medium of human communication that involves the representation of a language with symbols. Writing systems are not themselves human languages; they are means of rendering a language into a form that can be reconstructed by other humans separated by time and/or space.
Writing is not as simple as it sounds. It has many depth/layers of meaning associated with it. From a scribble on a piece of paper to a mighty 300-page novel, all these are writing in one way or the other. Ewan Clayton in his article very beautifully puts forward the idea of the origins of writing — as in the timeline of the writing.
Writing has many depths associated with it. Writing is not just a mere consortium of words; it is the way of expressing one’s beliefs about a certain topic, what they believe.
This process of writing is a long drawn process with many layers associated. We tried to cover as many layers as possible but this being a vast topic, all the layers can not be covered. Writing has many nuances attached to it — be it word positioning, proper grammar tones, writing style for a certain section of the audience, and many more.
Why Write?
Leo Babauta has a perfect answer for the same:-
Writing helps us reflect on our lives and the changes we are making.
Writing clarifies our thinking. Writing forces us to crystalize our thoughts and put them in a logical order.
Writing regularly makes us better at writing. And writing is a powerful skill to be good at in our digital age.
Writing generates a perspective. We have empathy and a wider understanding of the world.
Writing forces us to come up with new ideas regularly, and so that forces us to solve the very important problem of where to get ideas.
Every one of us faces the inertia to start writing. The process of writing can be tiring and we have to be our creative selves for the most part. There are 5 broad ways in which we can break this inertia and start the process of writing according to Rory Marinich :-
First, decide what we actually want to write — Getting down the bare minimums for our piece will help us construct a bare draft for whatever it is we’re planning to end with. Either we can jot it off on a sticky note and put it next to our notebook, or write it on the top of our Word document.
Make sure to be interested in what we’re writing — If we aren’t fascinated with the subject we’re writing about, it will almost certainly show in our writing. If we don’t have a choice as to what to write about, we can try to find some element in the subject that interests us, and focus on it.
Outlining the basics of what is to be done — Outlining also helps with creative writing: even though creativity can’t be forced, it helps immensely to have a general idea of what’s going on.
Stop everything else and concentrate on writing — The draft of any piece is almost always the hardest thing to write since we have nothing to base our writing on. While writing the draft, try to concentrate on it as much as possible. Turn off your instant messenger, if there is one. Don’t take a break to check the email. Any interruption might destroy the focus on the piece, and it is far harder to return to writing a draft than it is to write it all in one go.
Lower the standards — Writer’s block originates from high standards: often, we might sit down to write but not like what we’re producing. The trick to eliminating this? Stop worrying so much over whether or not every little bit is written is as good as it can be.
What are the different types of Writing styles?
There are different types of writing styles which we can identify whenever we are reading an article or any blog. These writing styles can be identified if we tend to look closely at them. Hereby, there are certain commonly used writing styles:-
Argumentative — Used when there are 2 sides to the same coin. There can be 2 ways to look at the same thing and we are trying to show how 1 side is more correct. So basically debatable topics and we are choosing a side
Example — China will dominate the world by 2050.
Narrative — Used to tell stories or general anecdotes. (painting a big picture)
Example — Personal story by the author of the draft (“When I was a little..”)
Analytical — Used to break complex topics, Introduce advanced ideas
Example — Breaking down the science of addiction.
Descriptive — Used most commonly to describe characters and places. Can also be used to describe in detail a particular feeling. (Specific in nature)
Example — Describing how it feels when one is very sleep-deprived
Conversational — Used when trying to engage the audience and inviting them to think and participate actively (perfect for WhatsApp forwards.)
Example — Encouraging an audience member to share a personal experience that describes his shortcomings.
Abstract — Used when we are opening and suggesting broad topics as an overview. Also when asking open-ended contrarian questions
Example — Arriving at a precise definition of what ethics are.
Writing as a whole has many nuances which have to be taken care of such as the grammatical nuances which encompass the overall meaning which we are trying to portray through our writing. Being grammatically correct adds to the point you are trying to make and also improves the readability for the reader. The importance of grammar has been highlighted by many authors whenever we tend to write something.
There are certain grammatical nuances which need to be kept in mind whenever we start writing:
“You” is used for statements like — “you might have experienced xyz..” (to help them recall or relate to something, a personal experience or common thing)
“We” used for suggestions: showing and telling — “we can think of this as..”. Used to make inclusive statements and suggest unity.
Use suggestive language instead of assertive. As we are not experts or with background research to back the claims definitively.
There should be consistency in the use of tenses.
Passive vs Active voice. The key is consistency and ease of understanding. Examples were using 1 voice vs other makes it easier to understand.
We are always bound to make some errors while we are writing but certain minute errors can be avoided. Whenever we are writing, we need to avoid:-
Subject-Verb Disagreement
Spelling Mistakes
Punctuation Mistakes.
Whenever we tend to write effectively, there are certain key points which we need to keep in mind about being a better writer :-
In a list of 3 or more linked with and/or put a comma after all items except the last
Put a comma after the transitional phrase
Surround Appositive phrases with commas (noun phrases placed side by side to identify one another)
Use dashes to interrupt
Use apostrophes
While writing there are certain key aspects that need to be in our minds at all times. There are certain rules by Writers Digest which we can inculcate for better writing:-
1. USE STRAIGHTFORWARD LANGUAGE.
The most fundamental way to simplify writing is to use simpler words. Simple words — whether verbs, nouns, or adjectives — tend to have broader connotations, while complicated words have more specific meanings.
2. TRIM LONG SENTENCES.
One way to make our writing clearer is to limit the use of long sentences. The easiest way to do this is to divide a long sentence into two or shorter sentences. Using shorter sentences does not mean that all sentences should be short. This would create a choppy style and is precisely where the art of writing comes into play.
3. AVOID REDUNDANCIES.
Tiresome writing occurs when a writer needlessly repeats a word or an idea. It’s redundant, for example, to speak of a “beginner who lacks experience,” because the word beginner already implies a lack of experience. Redundant words or phrases are those that can be eliminated without changing the meaning of the sentence.
4. AVOID NEEDLESS SELF-REFERENCE.
Avoid such unnecessary phrases as “I believe,” “I feel” and “in my opinion.” There is usually no need to remind the reader that what we are writing is our opinion.
5. FAVOR ACTIVE VOICE.
In general, active voice is stronger than passive voice because the active voice is more direct and cuts down on the number of needed words. For example, the sentence “I loved Sally” is in the active voice and contains three words. “Sally was loved by me” is passive and contains five words.
6. FAVOR VERBS, NOT NOUNS.
Nominalization is a fancy-sounding but important concept in writing. It describes the process by which verbs and adjectives are turned into nouns — for instance, “precision of measurement” is the nominalization of “precise measurement.” Nominalizations make sentences weaker (and, usually, longer).
7. USE PARALLEL FORMS.
Parallelism in writing means expressing similar parts of a sentence consistently. Elements alike in function should be alike in construction.
Parallelism is an important element of style because it builds clarity and power. Note the following sentence in parallel form: “In the summer before college, I waited tables, sold magazines and even delivered pizzas.” Now compare this with a nonparallel form: “In the summer before college, I was a waiter at a restaurant, pursued magazine sales and pizza delivery was my third job.”
8. BE SPECIFIC.
One major difference between good writing and mediocre writing lies with the specific and concrete examples that we use (or fail to use). Vague language weakens our writing because it forces the reader to guess what we mean instead of allowing the reader to concentrate fully on our ideas and style. Choose specific, descriptive words for more forceful writing.
9. AVOID THE MASCULINE GENERIC.
The masculine generic refers to the sole use of the pronoun he or him when referring to situations involving both genders. As much as we can, make an effort to avoid using him when referring to either or she and using him when referring to either him or her. Because 50 percent of any general readership is likely female, it’s not only politically astute but fair-minded to avoid using the masculine generic and to alternate the pronouns or opt for gender-neutral language, instead.
Writing is an art which if intended with full attention, can be mastered. There are lots of processes that come along with the process of writing. Editing is the next step that comes after writing. Clearing/Filtering out all the noises from the article to make it crisp, on the point, and easily readable by the audience is the main job of editing. Proofreading is also a crucial aspect when we write as it tends to highlight various aspects that we might neglect or have forgotten when we were first writing. There are certain things that we need to keep in mind while proofreading :
1) Ice it:- Put away what’s written for the time till the mental image fades away
2) Go for text to speech kind of approach for faster proofreading as listening the text in someone else’s voice might help in catching mistakes faster or just simply read the work out loud
3) Use of AI-based grammar style checkers as it might give even more in-depth analysis of what you have written and might even mimic the processing of the text by the human brain. (Grammarly and Ginger)
4) Partner up to get a second pair of eyeballs; preferably someone who has never read the document.
5) Print out the document as hard copy
6) With the hard copy, highlight one line at a time
7) Circle the punctuation in red once the hard copy is provided
8) Increase the size of the text
9) Change the font
10) Change the column layout
11) no distractions
12) Read backward as it will clearly indicate any typos and mistakes
13) Don’t rely on a spell checker
14) Be clear and don’t overuse jargon and keep it as simple and understandable
15) Break the task into various slots or sprints
Some people tend to like writing but are so caught in the work that they are not able to give their time to writing. We hope that after reading this, you get motivated to pull out that pen and paper and start penning your thoughts, emotions, and feelings whatever comes to your mind. Whether it be a sentence or one page or two pages, it doesn’t matter. We should try to give our thoughts a voice with writing and don’t let those thoughts remain buried deep inside us. I would like to leave you with a quote from Louis L’Amour :
“Start Writing, no matter what.
The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
A case for writing. Well was originally published in StrangerSapiens on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.