How to Write Well....

The girls have to copy the writings of essayists and historians I think are important; the girls' opinions are relevant, sometimes, but I want them to learn how to write well. They have to write well to be able to justify their thoughts and express their criticisms and understand how ideas must be supported to qualify as opinions. Thus, while their views are being developed I want the girls to understand how other people's opinions developed and were supported. It is hardly the most innovative way of writing; in fact, it was a method most popular during the Middle Ages but I have yet to find another of equal value.

The idea was clarified in a recent spat of articles about how to write well. Elmore Leonard, the latest writer to offer an opinion, published a book with what he considered points relevant to writers seeking to improve their craft. The Guardian, an English paper, sought varied opinions from other writers, including Margaret Atwood, the only Canadian on the list. Russell Smith, in the Canadian Globe and Mail, indicated the problem with most writers is their unwillingness to read; he noted there is a plethora of how to write books and an actual decrease in the number of people reading. Smith makes valid points only to be undermined by his own list of how-to-write-well tips.

I try to write well and I want the girls to write well; we do read a lot. I think a greater value can be found in the quality of a person's library than in the publication of their writing habits. We own all the standard classics, all of Shakespeare, most of the Greeks, some of the Russians, the Bible, the Koran and Darwin. My children have read the Victorian poets, the Romantics, and some Restoration plays--which they didn't like. Our library is dominated by the English because that is the language we speak; but, the children have read "1001 Arabian Nights" which I think is extremely important and they have encountered other works in translation which they didn't like as much. Rumi was a discovery for them. They have encountered essays by Thoreau and some other Americans; but their favourites, by far, are the short stories of any culture. Stephen Leacock is still the most popular Canadian writer.

Essayists are still being discovered; though, I find, while the girls like some modern writers, their staying power is in question. David Sedaris is a popular writer but, except for the funny gay relevations, he is not an important writer; Stuart McLean has more talent but, equally, will not stand the test of time. Ronald Wright is a great writer but I wonder if it is more his message than his skill; Barry Lopez is in a similar vein. I don't know what qualifies as an exceptional talent any more and I don't know how to write well; I do agree with Russell Smith that writers who teach how to write well are more likely to have been published and forgotten than to have had staying power. My girls are learning to write well by imitating writers who, unambiguously, are known to have written well; they are part of that fluid list called the Canon. I would argue that if you haven't read, at least, some of the books on that list, you cannot write well. There wouldn't be enough depth to your reading to enable such an ability.