![Preview of Pity the Reader: On Writing with Style](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51qvHyr2i-L.jpg)
updated 23d ago
updated 23d ago
Writing is a generosity, even to yourself.
Kojo added 23d ago
How beautiful it is to get up and go out and do something. We are here on Earth to fart around. Don’t let anybody tell you any different.551
Whether rigging or not, one’s self and the myriad aspects of oneself show up in one’s characters. The more you are able to encompass and give voice to those aspects, the larger you grow, and the better fiction writer you will be. You’ll meet yourself on the river, as it were.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, creating an “innocent” main character—one ignorant of the lay of the land or the problem to be solved—can be a wonderfully natural way to lead your reader into a story.
Fetishism of famous writers, he suggested, occurs because “it’s such heavy-lifting to actually read books.”
One of the hardest lessons for novice writers to realize is that caring alone, no matter what you’ve been through or what story you have to tell, doesn’t matter in terms of rendering the successful creation of your work. It’s not your story that matters. It’s how you tell it.
The point is, writing well, even an ordinary letter or a well-considered e-mail, demands the generosity of your time, effort, and thought. You have to care enough that it’s worth your energy, weighing that cost against the cost of not doing it.
Kojo added 23d ago
So a writer is someone who is willing to be uncomfortable enough—or is uncomfortable enough by nature—to wonder where people are, where they’re going, and why they’re going there. A writer is willing to take risks for that wondering. A writer cares that much about his or her subject.
Kojo added 23d ago
The second suggestion Vonnegut makes in “How to Write with Style” is “Do not ramble.” I won’t, as he said he wouldn’t, “ramble on about that.” The third is “Keep it simple.”
“Find a subject you care about.”