Thousands of words every single day. But I’m a terrible writer. I’ve tried writing using all sorts of different stylistic devices, and even using Dionysian Imitatio, specifically metathesis exercises. Yet I find it virtually impossible when I have something I need to express, like a request, or an idea about aesthetic theory to convert that into something which is well written.
Are you dedicating as much time to reading good writing as you are practicing?
Yeah, so I bet passive osmosis has in fact gotten you somewhere, but to go a bit beyond that -
Can you identify when you’re reading writing you like vs. writing you don’t like?
What’s the difference?
What kind of properties does writing you like have, compared to other writing? (Especially compared to writing that’s “just okay”, as opposed to actively bad)
Can you recreate these in your own writing?
What effect does good writing have on you? (This is sort of an art more than a science, but like—do you understand the thing better? Do certain sentences just like really hit you? What’s going on there?)
Excellent question but the answer is “No”. I read a fair amount but also are most translations of Aristotle good writing? Probably not—Aristotle is famously obtuse. Is Wittgenstein good writing? I have no idea but also his writing is probably idiomatically suited to the content of the ideas he’s trying to express. I was recently reading Seneca, is he a good writer?
I used to read a lot of Nabokov who is certainly a good writer but that clearly did me no good.
Are you dedicating as much time to reading good writing as you are practicing?
What’s the causal mechanism behind “read good writing, and you’ll be able to write better”?
I assume I’m already used to reading good writing, and I’m not going to pick up any additional techniques by mere passive osmosis anymore.
Yeah, so I bet passive osmosis has in fact gotten you somewhere, but to go a bit beyond that -
Can you identify when you’re reading writing you like vs. writing you don’t like?
What’s the difference?
What kind of properties does writing you like have, compared to other writing? (Especially compared to writing that’s “just okay”, as opposed to actively bad)
Can you recreate these in your own writing?
What effect does good writing have on you? (This is sort of an art more than a science, but like—do you understand the thing better? Do certain sentences just like really hit you? What’s going on there?)
Excellent question but the answer is “No”. I read a fair amount but also are most translations of Aristotle good writing? Probably not—Aristotle is famously obtuse. Is Wittgenstein good writing? I have no idea but also his writing is probably idiomatically suited to the content of the ideas he’s trying to express. I was recently reading Seneca, is he a good writer?
I used to read a lot of Nabokov who is certainly a good writer but that clearly did me no good.