Sublime

The mystical writer uses the myth of his genius to gain power. He (since it is almost always a he) benefits from keeping up the illusions that he has natural talent and that writing cannot be taught.

Sartre once wrote, “Every sentence is a risk.” Well might he have added, “Every word is a risk,” for precision in word choice is of paramount importance.

His own words will always be better than your words, even if you are the most elegant stylist in the land. They carry the inflection of his speaking voice and the idiosyncrasies of how he puts a sentence together.

For Flannery O’Connor, ‘the teacher’s work should be largely negative . . . We can learn how not to write.’ But it would be terrible to discourage novice writers by pointing out their failings in public.

an Africanist persona is reflexive; an extraordinary meditation on the self; a powerful exploration of the fears and desires that reside in the writerly conscious.

the author will actively pursue a specific goal (the point they are trying to make), positing a theory, exploring it and coming to a conclusion.