Writing makes an exact man exact in thought and speech.

Writing makes an exact man exact in thought and speech.

--Francis Bacon--

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Sir Franny is correct, or...is he. Whatta you think?...Right, think about it,

 

 

before

 

you

 

scroll

 

down

 

here

because my opinion matters more than yours only in the fact that, at this moment, it is my hand on the controls, not yours!

I think Sir Franny is correct on one level: in order to write well enough to satisfy an exacting task-master, the work must be more than just orthographically and grammatically correct. Good writing should also have a smoothness of flow that takes into account not only logic but ear.

That is, my above paragraph is grammatical and logical, but it sure doesn't flow--oops, it just got better--I broke one long sentence into two! There, the deed testifies to Bacon's words.

So, I agree: exact writing demands exact vocab, linear flow of thoughts, and adherence to the rules of the language. That's all correct, as far as it goes. But I think one also needs to pay attention to more than rules, but to the art of writing. Namely, is there a word that the author understands and that fills the bill perfectly, but that word is sufficiently out of the ordinary that the average reader will be given pause? Are the sentences all the same length? If they're all short, it'll feel choppy. All long? There's risk for frustrating the reader--the task of the writer is to distill, to clarify, to bring the reader along, not to impress you with euphonious exhalations of polysyllabic pomposity, or to mightily divert you with my amusing twists of thought that ultimately serve to obfuscate.

So, I also disagree with Bacon: there's much more to good writing than mere exactitude. A little sloppiness in the first draft, in particular--great idea. Keeps me moving fast and not worrying so much about perfection that I over-criticize myself and choke off the flow of ideas.

And, the exact writer may be driven to perfectionistic paralysis--will it ever be just right? Will every reader follow my every word and my every thought?

Pish. Chuck Swindoll said something about going over every line, word by word, to ensure that everything said precisely what he intended. But, NO paralysis for him--Wikipedia's Swindoll entry lists 57 books under the heading, "selected publications," suggesting that there are more out there. Oh, and 12 ECPA Christian Book awards.

Okay, he's one of my heroes. So, after inspiring myself, if no one else...off I got to write.

Your comments welcomed below.