James KA Smith and a Few Thoughts on Writing

Paul writes – More from James K A Smith. Some really useful thoughts on writing. Here's a few excerpts from him: 

“…You will know you're on your way to being a writer when you have a love/hate relationship with language: when you can be either thrilled or vexed by the cadence of a sentence or turn of phrase--when you can't quite leave the paragraph on which you're laboring because there's a tic of timing that's driving you mad. Or when you begin to consider the force of a sentence in terms of its ability to move rather than prove. In sum, you'll know you've become a writer when you consider the sheer play of language to be a country to which you'd gladly emigrate… 

… consider some of these as new habits:

1. Immerse yourself in fiction and poetry. If you don't love fiction, I can't imagine how you'll ever be a solid writer. The imaginative worlds of novels and the linguistic intensity of poetry should be your daily bread. Central to your apprenticeship should be mimesis, learning to imitate good writing. To familiarize yourself with that, you need to be regularly swimming laps in the deep pool of literature. If you can't imagine this being true for you, then stick to being an "author." 

2. Apprentice yourself to the craft of writing. Granted, there's an entire industry of wannabe writers out there that keeps Poets & Writers afloat. But there are also some very helpful books that are themselves examples of engaging writing. I'd recommend starting with Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life… 

…4. Be patient. Recall Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours rule (in Outliers): What looks like overnight "genius" exploding onto the scene is usually the product of about 10,000 hours of practice. This is the (admittedly discouraging) math of expertise. Now, I think you can log credit for all the hours you spend reading fiction and poetry as hours of practice. But you also just need to write. And write. And write. Write stuff that will never see the light of day. Write blogs. Take form seriously in your emails. Never miss an opportunity to make language dance and play. Embrace the craft at every turn. You might just become a writer…” 

You can read his full post here. Also worth a read are his two earlier reflections Writing (and) Theology, and (Unsolicited) Advice for Young (Theological) Writers.

 

Comments

[Mike Crowl]

Anyone who recommends Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird knows what he's talking about. Still one of the best books on 'how' to write ever written, because it's looks at the sheer difficulties with humility and a great sense of humour. It's worth just re-reading for the sheer fun of it even if you're not thinking about writing. And I don't know if I can write this here, but her chapter on the 'shitty first draft' reminds all writers that they start with a jumble of words on the page that eventually WILL come right.

[len]

thanks Paul, love it.