Keys to Great Writing

Although many people write for a living and many more love to write as a hobby, great writing is as rare as hen’s teeth. Great writing is genuine, clear and moving. It can be written in many styles, yet has deep universal impact. Whether expressed through poetry, fiction or non-fiction, great writing sears itself into the memory, often moving the reader to act or change.

Keys to great writing are simple yet challenging.

First, the passion behind the topic must be genuine and deep. Blake said he would “…sooner strangle an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires.” Deep desires are the mystic touchstones on which great writing is founded. Act on yours. Let yourself feel the passion so common in childhood that has been slowly walled up behind adult responsibilities and daily cares, then express them. Like putting your hand on a beating heart, this passion will move you, as well as your readers.

Second, unbridle your imagination. Flaubert said, “It’s a delicious thing to write. To be no longer yourself, but move in an entire universe of your own creating.” Immersing yourself in imagination is both empowering and addicting. Imagination, like blood, carries life into your writing. Instead of sterile, predictable phrases, you pen words of fire and tales that are brilliant and luminous. Imagination creates atmosphere and purpose that lifts readers above the mundane.

Third, make it personal. When you express truths in your writing that touch you, they will also touch others. Brenda Euland said, “…all people have in them this power to write greatly and well, when they express freely and carelessly what is true to them.” What is true to you? What is the nutritive base in which your life takes root? Open your heart to the unconscious power of what moves you, personally. This is a vital element of great writing.

Finally, embrace the act of writing. Simply write. Every day, write. Open your heart and pick up your pen. Put words on paper, however ordinary those words and phrases. Only by writing, regularly, devotedly, can we develop the invisible muscles of our inward art. As we write, eventually and irrevocably, our writing becomes better. So, write! Write at the grocery store while waiting in the checkout line. Write at the stop light, while waiting for the light to change. Write during each and every boring, formerly wasted moment, on a scrap of paper or in a little note pad. You will be shocked at the end of the day at what gems you have penned. It is these gems, lit by the fire of truth, that will make your writing great!