Saturday, March 24, 2007

the good writer

we all have to agree on the general consensus that good writers are those who possess the capacity to capture the audience’s attention and imagination. However, that left out the pertinent details on writing as a technicality.

Marshall McLuhan may have said that “the medium is the message”, but that doesn’t exactly represents the definition and the construction of the message accurately. The message may be on certain instances, distorted, and that would directly or indirectly have significant repercussions on the origin- - -which we could say, to be the writer. The whole thing (the medium and the message) may fall off and with it the entire point (and that would not label anyone as a “good” writer).

with this, let us enumerate several factors that we could say, may be something to make the “good” writer in us rolling:

1. A good writer should be properly knowledgeable on the topic at hand – It would be a huge bummer if he/she doesn’t know what they’re writing. Some writers tend to divert on the central idea and wander off to places unknown until the whole point collapses. He/She should stick on the topic no matter what.

2. A good writer should capture the audience – many a writer wanted this turnout as if hoisted on a pedestal. Once the audience is hooked, there is no turning back. Bestsellers became bestsellers primarily because the writer managed to get his/her target audience’s attention. A big plus, so to speak.

3. A good writer should be grammatically impeccable – one perennial mistake of mine. Most of us commit such mistakes often that we didn’t really pay much attention to it. Detail is the key and even the smallest quirk could cost the writer a downhill plunge.

4. A good writer should be prepared to accept criticisms – writing is a hit-and-miss “activity”. There are times that the thing you wrote may not conform nor appeal to someone. Somehow, I think, writing (like films) is an acquired taste. At certain in point in time, you’d write something that would not garner the similar recognition you received with the previous.

5. A good writer should not be reading this – to err is human, and to write is one thing that evidently illustrates the human frailty. From a personal experience, I write because I wanted to, not because it is and was an academic demand. I make gazillion blunders and I don’t worry about it. I have been rejected on a short fiction I wrote and lost confidence, but somehow it turned out to be the fuel to keep me writing.

the fact is, there is no such thing as a good writer. there are good stories and there are good articles. the important thing is we enjoy the attempt. the writing process itself is one thing that makes it worthwhile.

(note: i wrote this in response to a discussion question required by the writing class i am currently enrolled in---that although i am presently undergoing a tough stretch to complete the units for the IT degree, the writing class somehow lessens the stress of it all.)

Labels: writing