Monday 11 July 2011

Writing as an envelope

I recently read Zadie Smith's essay on David Foster Wallace. This got me thinking about doing an entry on a certain attitude to writing which Wallace totally believed in- writing as a gift to readers. There won't be much structure to this, just some things I've been thinking about recently.

In Stein on Writing, Sol Stein asks the aspiring writer to think of writing as an envelope. "It is a mistake to fill the envelope with so much detail that little or nothing is left to the reader's imagination", he says.

So both Stein and Wallace share the idea that writing should be a kind of present to the reader, an envelope packaged with care, rather than a simple display of talent. And of course, Wallace was against solipsism- instead believing that writing should be a conversation between writer and reader.

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Another thing I've been thinking about: learning to write is confusing. There is so much different advice. We are told both to be specific- to show and not tell- but also warned against including too much.

Some of Stein's advice for writing is to follow this equation:: 1+1= ½. He explains that “[...] if the same matter is said in two different ways, either alone has a stronger effect”. One detail, the best detail, will suffice.

Perhaps the best advice on this, though- which I’ve heard from numerous writers- is to trust your readers.

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