BOOKS & CULTURE 1
Read One Sentence by Michael Chabon and Your Idea of “Great Writing” Will Change Forever
It may also force you to ask, “is this why I write, or why I should give up writing?
Just to be clear, this is my personal opinion, and in no way a pronouncement from up high, carved in digital stone, codified into legally binding thought control, or to be plastered on every doorway, billboard, and smart phone cover in the world.
I’m in the middle of Michael Chabon’s “Gentlemen of the Road” and found a sentence so brilliant I wanted to share it with all you aspiring fiction writers.
Yes, I know Hemingway wrote a story outline in six words.
I know that many popular Medium writers express their emotions. Just. Like. This. Because, literature.
And all the data-driven content marketers teach you how to get thousands of claps by buying their writing program, “Content: Reach Absolute Popularity.”
But you know what? How about taking the time to create one great sentence that combines humor with searing insight into the human condition and served in a complicated stew of descriptive clauses that build to a crescendo of delight when you reach the end, all without resorting to a single expletive?
His writing soars about the sixth grade sh*t that everyone says you should write to get a bigger audience. I wrote in detail about all those popularity rules here, but I did it as parody.
Without further ado, I bow to the master:
“Not always,” said his nephew, a would-be sharp operator who lacked for the satisfaction of his ambition only the quality of sharpness and who expended all of his energies, as far as Joseph could see, on preserving his opinions from contamination by experience.
If you like comics, “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” is one of the greatest books in the history of the English language.
Chabon won the Pulitzer Prize for it.
Every time I read an amazing book, I am simultaneously filled with inspiration and despair.
It doesn’t mean I stop writing, but I have to let go of any expectations that what I write will ever approach this level of genius.
And I’m not putting down anyone who writes from the heart. I couldn’t care less about typos and grammar mistakes if you touch my heart or make me laugh.
What I’m saying is that reading the good stuff may give you a higher standard to strive for, instead of copying the voice of so many writers on Medium (and I’m as guilty as anyone). I just don’t think post-modern snarkism is going to be a recognized school of writing fifty years from now.
If you haven’t read them, here are some incredible books I would recommend to expand your appreciation of great writing. As you can see, there is a lot of laughter in my reading list.
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Anything by:
Alan Furst (1930’s spy thrillers from the Allied perspective)
Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther series (1930’s detective thrillers from the anti-Hitler, German perspective).
Tim Dorsey (perhaps the funniest crime writer ever)
Elmore Leonard (one of the best dialogue writers ever)
Walter Mosley (amazing writer, plus deep insights into the nature of racism in post-WWII Los Angeles)
Kelli Stanley’s Miranda Corbie mystery series (love the historical research on 1940’s San Francisco while introducing feminist perspective to gritty noir)
Plus a few non-fiction books that are not about writing style but incredible insight:
Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, and all his books or magazine article
Deborah Tannen’s “You Just Don’t Understand” (professor of linguistics, mind blowing insight into the difficulty men and women have communicating with each other)
Bart Kosko’s “Fuzzy Thinking — the New Science of Fuzzy Logic”
Edward de Bono’s “Serious Creativity”
Christopher Vogler’s “The Writer’s Journey — Mythic Stucture for Writers”
Who are your favorite writers, and why?
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