At a literary event I attended in August, one of the panel presenters highly recommended Sol Stein’s book, Stein on Writing. Always in search of new ways to think and talk about writing, I’ve been making my slow way through it. (Full Disclosure: My totem animal is the turtle; “slow” is how I do most things.)
Though most of the chapters are dedicated to fiction writing, Stein has many good things to say—or re-emphasize—to those of us writing nonfiction, including that writers learn their craft by reading and analyzing other people’s writing. This is why writers benefit from workshops, classes, and writing groups; they not only have their drafts read and responded to, but also read and comment on the work of their fellow writers. Both activities help us become better practitioners of the craft.
In the book’s final chapter, Stein lists his Ten Commandments for Writers. My favorite is the last, “10. Above all, thou shalt not vent thy emotions onto the reader, for thy duty is to evoke the reader’s emotions, and in that most of all lies the art of the writer.”
Amen, I say to that, Brother Stein.
2 comments:
Carol, I'm a turtle too! Though I know nothing about totems, I've often identified with turtles. I lumber along, lugging this shell, wishing I were fleet of foot. I try to remember who won the race (not the hare). I also have Stein on Writing, which came highly recommended.
Love the "fleet of foot" alliteration. For me, the lumbering came first, then the totem. I'm a slow writer as well, and am encouraged whenever I hear that to be true about other writers.
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