assignment one: "what is good writing?"

It stands unassuming in the shadows and draws you boldly into the light. Its hushed tones scream at you, and it hides a secret that anyone can discover.

Prosaic and poetic, writing is, perhaps, the ultimate paradox. For centuries, students have struggled to understand the simplest of phrasings and instructors have laid claim to a thorough comprehension of the most abstract passages. Even when you try to break a piece of writing down into “simplistic” terms, you’ll encounter a bizarre web of grammar that includes complicated ideas like syntax and phonetics and punctuation, which, you’ll quickly admit, have concepts and rules that refuse to make sense. Explain it as you will, you really…well…can’t.

So what, then, is good writing? Can one person presume to make sense of something that might very well turn out to be something else on the other side of the proverbial (and, I guess, also paradoxical) rainbow?

Absolutely.

First of all, good writing takes ideas and gives them a cohesive, coherent body. Instead of abstractions floating about in the air above your inquisitive head, they become letters and words that take possession of that meaning and effectively communicate it to other human beings. Much like the spoken word, the beauty of writing - good writing in particular - is that it solidifies expression rather than leaving your thoughts hanging somewhere in the gap between you and the person you’re having a conversation with.

But communicating meaning is not enough. Although theorists still debate the concept of inherent meaning, it’s fairly safe to state that almost everything in existence communicates meaning. Good writing emerges beyond the confines of this simple (but nevertheless crucial) task to compel – compel your feet to action, your mind to thinking, or your heart to feeling a new or suppressed emotion. In other words, good writing “molds” us like a potter molds clay, conforming our thoughts and emotions to its agenda. Ultimately, no piece of writing can ever be considered truly “good” unless it succeeds in producing some sort of mental or emotional reaction, in accordance with its message, in the reader.

Oh, yes. Proper grammar is a win. Correct spelling? Please and thank you. Avoiding muddling comma splices or run-ons is also a good idea. But at the heart of successful authorship is a graceful, ethical manipulation of emotion. Remember, people feel more than they diagram sentences.