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What Is Good Writing?
What is good writing and why is it important?
This question can drive people nuts. The subjective and emotional aspects of writing make it impossible to say what good writing is for sure. As with any philosophical question, the value isn’t in the answer, it’s in the exploration.
It’s quite a useless exercise to think in terms of good or bad when it comes to my own writing. One day, I think my writing is brilliant, the next day I think it's drivel. I'm too close to my writing to judge it with much objectivity. How, then, am I supposed to develop the discernment that I need to grow and thrive as creative person?
By looking at other people’s work. As I become better able to articulate my responses as well as the reasons behind them, I am in fact gaining deeper insight into myself, into what makes me tick. When engaged with correctly, exploring the question, “What is good writing?” can bring me closer to my core and my authentic voice.
Here, in no particular order, are three places I’ve found good writing recently:
- Inception: Written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a thought thief who can invade people’s dreams and steal their innermost secrets from their subconscious. Why I think it’s good: Not because of all the mind-bendy talk it's engendered, but because it stuck to the heart of the story. Just as the characters in the story keep delving deeper into dream worlds, the screenwriter/director keeps digging ever deeper, mining what he has already set up. The temptation for him to go bigger, wilder, more fantastical, more dream-like, more...more must have been there. But Nolan never lost sight of the theme, which in my view is not about dreams or dream worlds but about our perception of reality. The result is a smart, exciting, tightly-written, philosophical thriller on the nature of reality and illusion and the difficulty to know the difference that feels like it came from Nolan's own fascinations.
- Taking Off: Milos Forman’s first US movie. Written by Jean-Claude Carrière and Forman. Set in 1971, it’s a story about the generation gap. A teen girl runs away from home, leaving her square parents to try to understand not only why she fled but themselves as well. Why I think it’s good: It looks at the generation gap with affection and compassion for both sides. It’s achingly human, funny, and touching, and says so much using an astounding economy of means.
In this scene, the parents have attempted to get closer to their daughter by trying marijuana. Back home from a support group for parents of runaways, the couple is playing strip poker with their new friends. They do not realize their daughter has returned.
- Speak, a YA novel by Laurie Halse Anderson about a teen who is raped and can’t bring herself to tell anyone. She becomes alienated from her friends and family and falls into a depression. Why I think it’s good: Because it addresses the issue of silence—a problem that many young girls and women grapple with, whether they've been raped or not—in a way that rings emotionally true.
These works touched me because they come from themes that touch their creators. Turning back to my own work now, I can hold it up to a different standard. Does my writing touch me? Does it come from deep within, from emotional truth? This is no longer a question of "good" or "bad" but a question of "YES, this is it," or "NO, I've missed the mark." See what I mean about how exploring "good writing" can take you closer to your core?
I recently created a short video to help define what good writing is to me:
What is good writing to you? How has your idea of good writing changed with time and with experience?
5 Comments
Reader Comments (5)
Alexis, thank you for discussing this topic - it's one many writers forget, especially those who work on the "business" side of writing versus the creative side. As business writers, we can lose touch with that element of personalness - the striking of the heart chords. Thanks for the direction to help us reconnect.
Lis
http://31daysblogchallenge.com
I'll tell you what good writing is, Alexis ...
It's ending with a bang! And that's precisely what you've done in this post. Love, love, love the video!
On the subject of determining if something is "good" or "bad" ...
I've been a perinatal educator for a long time and I work hard to drill in the fact that there are no "good" or "bad" babies. It upsets me when I hear new parents labeling their babies in that fashion. Yes, there are difficult and challenging babies -- but they're not "bad". And, in my estimation, all babies are "good". :)
Melanie
31DBBB member
Alexis, so true! I'm always 2nd guessing myself when it comes to my writing and it's important to just take a step back and not compare. Just be myself and let that come through. I think over time I've become a better writer. Thanks for sharing this and it's great to participating in this challenge with you. :)
I think you've touched on what I consider the essential for really good writing with the "emotional truth" I find when I write, the best stuff usually comes from expressing something that is deeply true, and maybe even uncomfortable to write/read/hear/admit. Not the rambling kind of read-my-diary honosty, but the truthful little details that bring a deeper understanding (or empathetic connection) on the reader's part.
Thanks for the visit and the comment, Forest. Ah, yes...those truthful little details do bring a piece to life!