"How to Write Good"?

Advice to Writers posted "How to Write Good" (March 28, 2025), which is sixteen (16) writing tips from William Safire:

1. Avoid run-on sentences that are hard to read.
2. No sentence fragments.
3. It behooves us to avoid archaisms.
4. Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.
5. Don't use no double negatives.
6. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, "Resist hyperbole."
7. Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
8. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
9. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
10. Writing carefully, dangling participles should not be used.
11. Kill all exclamation points!!
12. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
13. Take the bull by the hand and don't mix metaphors.
14. Don't verb nouns.
15. Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
16. Last but not least, avoid clichés like the plague.

It appears that Safire's advice was taken from his Fumblerules: A Lighthearted Guide to Grammar and Good Usage; however, anyone who is well-read could assume that Safire was trolling, and the title of the post would lead one to assume that as well, because there many authors whom creatively and successfully violate Safire's tips. 

For example, Vladimir Nabokov "creatively and successfully" used "affected alliteration" extensively throughout his oeuvre. For instance, take these two lines from Lolita:

• Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins
• Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth

A perusal of Safire's Wikipedia page revealed that he mostly wrote non-fiction, which his tips would be more appropriate for; so, the Advice to Writers post maybe should have been titled "How to Write Good [Non-Fiction]". 

Writing a Book: Talent vs. Grit

Reportedly, Colum McCann, the writer of literary fiction, guaranteed that a writer with 80% talent coupled with 100% desire will be "so much better" than a writer with 100% talent but with only 80% desire. McCann:

The writers who are prepared to keep going [i.e., gritty writers] are the ones who are going to make it. I can guarantee that a writer with 80 percent of the talent and 100 percent of the desire will be so much better than the person with 100 percent of the talent and only 80 percent of the desire. It always works that way. 

We posted previously that Angela Duckworth wrote in Grit that grit can be a better indicator of success than "talent" or IQ scores, because talent that's multiplied by effort equals skill, which when multiplied by effort, God willing, equals achievement. 

In addition, Duckworth shared four keys to possessing grit [as a writer]:

1. Develop a Fascination

In other words, write about something that you’re passionate about. Otherwise, you may become bored with the physical writing slash typing process.

2. Daily Improvement

Improving daily may not be sustainable, but if you've written for 30 minutes every day for a week, try to write for 45 minutes, which, once again, may be more sustainable if you're writing about a topic that you're passionate about.

3. Write about something that serves a greater purpose.

In other words, be an altruistic writer.

4. Growth Mindset

In other words, don't have a limiting mindset. For instance, if James Franco can write a book, God willing, you can too!

The Fear of Writing

Richard Rhodes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, reportedly opined that fear, not talent, stops most people from writing. Rhodes said:

"If you want to write, you can. Fear stops most people from writing, not lack of talent, whatever that is."

In addition, Rhodes implied that possessing passion is more important than treasuring talent. Rhodes said:

[...] You’re a human being, with a unique story to tell, and you have every right. If you speak with passion, many of us will listen. We need stories to live, all of us. We live by story. Yours enlarges the circle.

And I would add that a number who people who do overcome their fear of writing are reluctant to share their writing - out of fear. 

Similes and Metaphors: Keep it on the Body

Kimberly King Parsons related that a teacher advised her [during her MFA studies at Columbia University?] to “Keep it on the body.” In other words, Parsons was advised to connect every metaphor or simile to the human body. Parsons asked:

Why compare something rust-colored to a brick when you could compare it to a spleen? Why put a plane in the sky when you could put a floater on the back of somebody’s eyeball?

Parsons opined that “Keep[ing] it on the body [...] builds bodies and worlds simultaneously." 

You may not want to use this technique exclusively, but peppering your writing with metaphors and similes that are inspired by the human body could add some muscle to your writing, but you might have to reexamine your bio.

Writer vs Actor

What's the difference between an actor and a writer? Per Joan Didion, unlike an actor, a writer can perform alone - while an actor, even in a so-called one-man show, needs a director, a producer, a lighting designer, etc. Didion reportedly said:

I wrote stories from the time I was a little girl, but I didn't want to be a writer. I wanted to be an actress. I didn't realize then that it's the same impulse [...] It's performance. The only difference being that a writer can do it all alone.

Writers: Don't Sell-Out

Previously, I've posted about the importance of writing about a topic that you're passionate about. Otherwise, you may not be able to sustain the discipline to finish writing a book. 

And Jennifer Weiner, a #1 New York Times bestselling author, advised that one should not sell-out. In other words, one shouldn't write with the sole intention of appealing to an agent or publisher. Instead, write "the story you want to tell". Weiner:

Don’t write something just because you think it will sell, or fit into the pigeonhole du jour [i.e., that's trendy]. Tell the story you want to tell, and worry about how to sell it later.

Writing is a Job - Not a Hobby

If you're writing inconsistently, maybe you're not taking your writing seriously (enough), which may be due to you looking at your writing as a hobby and not as a (dream) job. Don't you admire people who say, "I love my job!"?

Rosellen Brown, the author and (adjunct) professor, strongly advised that to succeed at writing, one should "approach it as a job":

It’s a job. It’s not a hobby. You don’t write the way you build a model airplane. You have to sit down and work, to schedule your time and stick to it. Even if it’s just for an hour or so each day, you have to get a babysitter and make the time. If you’re going to make writing succeed you have to approach it as a [dream] job.

Seth Godin: "Books Don’t Sell!"

571 Unique ISBNs from the Major Publishers for 52 weeks Ending on 8-24-2022
(BookScan\Lincoln Michel ) 

Seth Godin posted on his blog: “The odds of a particular book selling a lot of copies are close to zero.”

Seth’s assertion is based on the fact that, per Bookscan, there were 450,000 books published in 2022. If you subtract the self-published books and only include the books published by the largest publishers (e.g., Penguin, Random House, Simon & Schuster, etc) that would result in approximately 45,000 books published that year. 

Of those 45,000 books published, distributed, and advertised by the largest publishers, Seth posted that only 163 books, or 0.4%, sold more than 100,000 copies. Seth wrote: “Those are extraordinarily bad odds.”

Lincoln Michel posted the numbers on the Counter Craft Substack, which are based on 45,571 unique ISBNs from the major publishers for 52 weeks ending on 8-24-2022:

• 0.4% or 163 books sold 100,000 copies or more
• 0.7% or 320 books sold between 50,000-99,999 copies
• 2.2% or 1,015 books sold between 20,000-49,999 copies
• 3.4% or 1,572 books sold between 10,000-19,999 copies
• 5.5% or 2,518 books sold between 5,000-9,999 copies
• 21.6% or 9,863 books sold between 1,000-4,999 copies
• 51.4% or 23,419 sold between 12-999 copies
• 14.7% or 6,701 books sold under 12 copies

As you can see, most books (i.e., 51.4% or 23,419) published by the major publishers only sold between 12 and 999 copies.

In the end, Seth wrote:

Write a book [on a topic that you're passionate about] because you can and because it might make a difference. But don’t listen to your publisher’s [TikTokers or YouTubers] suggestions simply to sell more copies. [Because] [y]ou probably won’t.

The Writer: "A Long, Hard, Lonely Life"?

In the film The Tenants (2005), which is based on Bernard Malamud's novel, Willie Spearmint confessed to Harry Lesser, "Man, I tell you, this writing stuff is no joke." "Baby, it's a long, hard, lonely life."

And Carlos Fuentes, the Mexican novelist and essayist, agreed with Willie when he reportedly said:

You must have discipline for writing. It is not an easy task. It is very lonely. You're all alone. You are not in company [...] You are delving into your depths, but you are profoundly lonely. It is one of the loneliest careers in the world [...] In writing, you are alone. That takes a lot of strength and a lot of will to do it.

Three Characteristics of a Work of Fiction

Isaac Bashevis Singer reportedly related that there are [at least] three characteristics that a work of fiction must possess [to be well-written]:

1. It must have a precise and suspenseful plot

2. The author must feel a passionate urge to write it

3. He must have the conviction, or at least the illusion, that he is the only one who can handle this particular theme

We would add, that of the three, number 2 is the most important - especially as it relates to actually getting the writing done, because, like we've mentioned a number of times, it will be very difficult for a writer to write for hours without the energy from a topic of passion.