Wise Words from an Author and His Editor

This is not a writing blog, but every once in a while, I come across a book about the subject that meets me right where I am. Which means, of course, that I have to share bits and pieces of it with you.

This time, it’s a book called Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction—Stories and Advice from a Lifetime of Writing and Editing. It was cowritten by Tracy Kidder, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for The Soul of a New Machine, and Richard Todd, his long-time editor.

I don’t always care for books with two authors, but this one works. Each author addresses the subject of writing and editing from his unique perspective, and their thoughts about their long-time collaboration also are insightful.

If you’ve consumed your fair share of writing books, Good Prose is more along the lines of William Zinsser (On Writing Well) than Anne Lamott (Bird by Bird). Reading it reminded me of my beloved college journalism professor, Fred Lollar, who was as old-school of an editor-type as they come.

I’ll return to my usual blog fare next week, but for now, here are a few of my favorite quotes from this helpful book.

Concise advice from a chapter called “The Problem of Style”:

“Often one of the most helpful things an editor can say to a writer is, ‘Make this two sentences.’ ”

A refreshing perspective on “voice” (also known as “the writer’s presence on the page”):

“The term ‘voice’ appears constantly in criticism today. … Certainly it has become discomfiting to hear writers speak about their own voices. You cannot, must not, try to design and create a voice. The creation of voice is the providential result of the writer’s constant self-defining and self-refining inner dialogue. When it happens, let someone else tell you, and be grateful.”

Kidder’s thoughts on rewriting (or, “the writer’s special privilege”):

“We rarely get the chance in life that rewriting offers, to revise our pasts, to take back what we’ve said and say it better before others hear it.”

And on not letting bossiness creep into our writing:

“ ‘Taking the spin off’ can be the solution not only to a melodramatic sentence, but to a problem of tone that infects a whole manuscript. … Taking the spin off can be translated roughly as: Don’t try to tell the reader how to feel.”

In the final chapter, Kidder recounts how he began learning the art of “killing his darlings,” a writerly phrase for deleting favorite lines that don’t fit in a book or article. At one point during the editing of The Soul of a New Machine, he and Todd spread the manuscript all over the carpet in Todd’s office so the editor could review the book as a whole.

“Now and then,” Kidder writes, “Todd picked a couple pages off the floor for closer scrutiny, and said of some passage I had long admired, knowing it was grand and indispensable, ‘You could do without this.’ That was when I began to learn a skill which for me needs constant relearning, how to fall out of love with my own words. And, much harder of course, how to let go of some perfectly lovable words that nonetheless are at odds with the whole.”

I’ll conclude with this bit of wisdom (which applies to so much more than writing books and blog posts, I think):

“If you can’t imagine yourself saying something aloud, then you probably shouldn’t write it. That is not the same as saying, ‘Write the way you talk.’ If we all did that, civilization would be in even worse shape than it is. This is closer: Write the way you talk on your best day. Write the way you would like to talk.”

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Which, if any, of these thoughts resonate with you? What’s the best piece of writing (or speaking) advice you ever received? Please share in the comments.

♥ Lois

P.S. I’m linking up this week with #tellhisstory, InstaEncouragements, Recharge Wednesday, Let’s Have Coffee and Grace & Truth.