Society (2022) 59:556–563

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-022-00731-x

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

The Value of Writing

John Simmons 1

Published online: 27 May 2022

# The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022

Abstract
Writing can give us all greater joy. Does that sentence make sense in the academic world? Writing rarely receives the academic
attention it deserves. Its value in conveying information, ideas, and argument is obvious, but do we neglect the positive
contribution that the quality of writing can add to academic papers? This essay argues that too much academic writing loses
impact by striving too hard for ‘impossible objectivity’. Arguments need emotion too, provided by stories and words used well,
which benefits writers and readers. This essay suggests reasons for giving greater attention to the way we write: from personal
fulfilment, through to persuasive power, to writing’s ability to make connections. Writing has the potential to be a source of joy
and inspiration not just a necessary chore that goes with the job.

Keywords Writing . Fiction . Fulfilment . Only connect . Inspiration . Imagination . Engagement

Writing is a valuable skill that we often devalue, simply by ‘The trouble with words is you never know whose
taking it for granted. It’s not controversial, surely, to suggest mouths they’ve been in’. (Potter, 1994)
to an academic readership that good writing is a good thing.
Although the way I wrote that — the repetition of ‘good’, the I enjoyed that. It’s a remark both throwaway and profound.
imprecision of ‘thing’ — might seem to have got me off to a The reality is that we aim to be precise with words but they
bad start with many readers and writers of academic journals. struggle hard against our attempts to pin them down to the
Oh well. Deliberate, of course. meaning we wish them to carry.
Perhaps I need to be clear. Or clearer. I say that because I suspect this is unwelcome news to academic writers.
‘clarity’ is universally considered an essential aspiration for There are many fine academic writers, and I will use examples
any writer of any kind. But I’m not sure language is ever drawn from Society, but they are not necessarily the ones who
capable of true clarity, because words are inherently unclear. write in what I would describe as an academic style.
The slippery creatures almost always have more than one What do I mean by this? It seems to me that there is a style
meaning; each word has nuance; there is inevitably a differ- of ‘academic writing’ that aims to be almost impossibly ob-
ence between the meaning intended and the meaning received. jective. There is a need to anticipate and counter every possi-
So we can strive only to be clearer rather than absolutely ble objection — to cover all the bases, to stop up all the cracks,
clear. to defend against attack. This can lead to writing that is dis-
tancing rather than involving: inert, lifeless, frankly boring.
Defensive in pursuit of the comprehensive, and lacking an
obvious feeling of humanity.
Facing up to Objectivity I always try to accentuate the positive, so I will not expose
examples of ‘bad writing’. The Sokal hoax provided an infa-
In my first and also most recently republished book We, Me, mous example that saw notably (and satirically) bad writing
Them & It, I found a starting point in a quotation from the published in an academic journal (Sokal, 1996). My argument
playwright Dennis Potter: is that the title alone of that paper — ‘Transgressing the
boundaries: towards a transformative hermeneutics of quan-
tum gravity’ — should have led to its rejection on the basis of
* John Simmons
[email protected] using words without due care and attention. Instead I will
focus on how we can all learn from good examples to make
1
Dark Angels, London, England, UK our own writing better and more enjoyable to read.
Society (2022) 59:556–563 557

What’s the Alternative? the evening news, I am reminded of Ambrose Bierce’s

remark that “War is God’s way of teaching Americans
So be it, you might say, you are not trying to entertain. I accept geography.” And it will tell you something about my
that. topic if I remark that this quip of Ambrose Bierce’s does
I accept that but I will suggest that there is an alternative, not seem to have lost any of its edge when transposed
just as there is an alternative to every word that a writer from the 19th to the 21st century. Here are five more
chooses to use. What causes you to choose this word rather quotations about America–that have yet to lose their
than that? Is it a striving for clarity, precision, objectivity? edge:
Even if these are only relative terms. Sometimes people call me an idealist. Well,
I believe we need to allow space for alternative approaches, that is the way I know I am an American.
and that the search for alternatives should be driven by the America is the only idealistic nation in the
pursuit of playfulness in writing. Writing — and please excuse world.
my non-academic terminology — should be fun. Woodrow Wilson
If we allow greater space for alternatives — both words and There is nothing the matter with Americans
meanings within words — we recognise in particular that except their ideals. The real American is all
words are inherently carriers of ambiguity. Ambiguity is often right; it is the ideal American who is all wrong.
seen as the enemy of clarity. Not for me. Those old sayings G. K. Chesterton
‘less is more’ and ‘show don’t tell’ still have power. They are The business of America is business.
less defensive because they steer away from the impulse to be Calvin Coolidge
intensely precise yet all-encompassing. They show necessary I am willing to love all mankind, except an
respect for the reader who is actually engaged in a dialogue American.
with you, a dialogue that needs to make an emotional Samuel Johnson
connection. Your American eagle is very well. Protect it
Ambiguity can create a narrative tension that spurs a reader here and abroad. But beware of the American
onwards. It can involve, for example, the kind of ‘moral wres- peacock.
tling’ explored in Amitai Etzioni in his Society article, R. W. Emerson
‘Happiness is the Wrong Metric’ from 2016 (Etzioni, 2016). Now, is there, as President Wilson thought, an internal
As does another well-written piece of academic writing relation between the concept of America and a certain
(Patterson, 2001) that examines the ambiguity in words and ideal? Or is it that, as Chesterton thought, there is noth-
the concept of freedom. Orlando Patterson argues that social ing the matter with Americans except their ideals? Or
science is a moral science because human beings are the object does America stripped of her ideals amount to nothing
of its study: ‘non-rational agents caught in endless plots and more than President Coolidge’s vision of her? And, if
mysteries that they themselves have written’. Human beings so, ought one then to sympathize with Dr. Johnson’s
are the authors and, largely, the subjects of writing. view of the matter? Or is there a distinction to be drawn,
There is nothing startling in this. Human beings write for as Emerson thought, between the ideal and its debase-
other human beings. But the necessary step to say ‘therefore ment by those who most loudly proclaim it?
we need to encourage a greater sense of humanity into our
writing’ is a fault line between good and bad academic writ- These are simple but effective techniques that enable the
ing. I believe that good writing, displaying a fuller awareness writing to connect on a human level with readers. Some of
of human needs, leads to greater engagement by both writer these techniques are the embrace of personal pronouns; quo-
and reader. ‘To be read’ should be the primary objective of tations that establish a lively sense of dialogue; reinforced by
any piece of writing — even if, in the academic world, the questions that continue the process of engagement between
cynical objective is simply to be cited by your peers. writer and reader.
Part of this recognition of common humanity comes to life I am not suggesting that these techniques can, therefore, be
as an example of good academic writing in James Conant’s adopted as some kind of universal style guide — but it is
‘The Concept of America’ Society essay (Conant, 2003). The useful to consider how good writers achieve their aim of being
opening of Conant’s essay shows a number of qualities that read with pleasure.
academic writers too often deny themselves: Now that, you might object, is all very well for the writer of
fiction. Writing has to be different in style and purpose in
different contexts. But writing is dead unless it is read. So
I am going to offer you a meditation on the concept of there are overarching principles of writing that apply to any
America. It will tell you something about the mood in form of writing. An academic paper or a novel. Writing does
which I do so, if I tell you that, lately, as I sit and listen to not succeed unless it makes a connection; a connection
558 Society (2022) 59:556–563

between writer and reader, keeping you involved and, ulti- recommend today, and such a long sentence. Yet there is a
mately, persuaded. beautiful and wonderful grandeur (Darwin’s words are infec-
I acknowledge that, by this point, I might have lost you. I tious) in the language largely because of its complexity. The
might not have persuaded. But if you are still with me, I will complexity gives it a rhythm that is beguiling and insistent.
move on and expand on these thoughts. Perhaps I will have And, after hundreds of pages of dense evidence, written in a
won the right to explore the dichotomy in writing words that style that was academic in its time, the reader is brought to the
can be beautiful and convincing, down-to-earth and uplifting. final words, and to the final word that itself represents the
To suggest that this is not a ‘flowering up’ nor a ‘dumbing theme of the whole thesis: ‘evolved’.
down’ of language for no good reason. I find that beautiful, and beautiful because intentional.
The good reason is that this approach to writing has bene- Darwin’s care for words steers him relentlessly to this conclu-
fits for both reader and writer. From the point of view of the sion that seems perfect because inevitable. How would an
reader it means writing that is more accessible because it en- academic write such a thesis today? Almost certainly — and
gages their emotions as well as their reason — and both are I would advocate this too — by using shorter sentences and
needed if a reader is to be persuaded. And from the point of paragraphs, by simpler syntax and vocabulary.
view of the writer it turns a somewhat functional task, often But this movement towards greater simplicity need not
considered a chore, into a source of pleasure. imply a retreat from beauty. The wonder of the world is a
subject that demands writing of beauty and emotional engage-
ment. As do many of the subjects that you write about in
So, Why Do Academics Write? academic journals today.
So why write? I suggest that there are many reasons apart
Writing is how academics spread knowledge and understand- from the ones dictated by the sheer necessity of fulfilling the
ing of their particular subject. It’s an essential part of their job requirements of your job. These reasons will, I believe, make
and, of course, a way of advancing their career. It matters. you more effective at your job and they will also provide great-
Because it matters it brings in an awareness of risk, and it er job satisfaction. Because writing is, and should be, a source
leads to risk-averse writing. Writing that avoids the projection of joy to the writer that also gives pleasure to the reader.
of individual personality, writing that is safe to share with a There is a feeling, perhaps entrenched in academic circles,
small group who have similar pressures on them. This results that writing that aspires to beauty is suspect. The belief is that
in striving for a style of writing that is ultra-objective, a shared beautiful writing distracts from the message.
group personality that suggests supreme or at least watertight I take the opposite view, believing that beautiful writing —
rationality, logic and judgement. showing itself through the writer’s commitment to the care of
In that striving, emotion inevitably leaches away, and with each word — is always part of the message. It demonstrates
it the text’s ability to engage and to reach a wider audience the writer’s belief in the words and thinking that represent the
than the relatively small number who are the author’s academ- argument. Beautiful writing is effective.
ic peers. So I will put forward half a dozen arguments for the value
Of course, I come from a background steeped in fictional of writing, particularly for the individual who writes.
writing. I am not an academic. But I admire academic writing
that reaches beyond its peer group and achieves a high level of
popular recognition. I think of someone like David Why Write? 1 — For Personal Fulfilment
Attenborough, for example.
But I also draw inspiration from Charles Darwin. Here is First, writing can give joy to the writer. But you have to allow
the final sentence of On the Origin of Species: that possibility into your attitude. This is not a selfish ap-
proach; it’s not ignoring the needs of the reader while shouting
‘me, me, me’ at a computer screen. By seeking and finding a
There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several joy in writing, writers automatically convey that feeling
powers, having been originally breathed into a few through the words they use.
forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone None of us live in a state of constant bliss (yet), but we
cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so perform better as human beings when we are in touch with our
simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and feelings. Writing creates that space, opening the door to
most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. deeper emotion, enabling the individual’s emotion to become
(Darwin, 1968, p.459–460) universal.

Good writing? Yes, but writing of its time (published 1859) No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. (Frost,
so using more complex vocabulary and syntax than we might 1939)
Society (2022) 59:556–563 559

Robert Frost’s line applies equally to all the emotions. But for me, it does not work like that. Writing is the way I
Writing is a way of expressing feeling that we experience think, and that’s one of the great benefits of the writing pro-
in a safe space. We draw on our experiences everyday but cess. Slowly, or perhaps suddenly, I discover what I think by
we can make more vivid use of them by writing about writing about it. Other writers seem to agree:
them. In doing so, the emotions are conveyed more pow-
erfully if we consciously try to improve the quality of our ‘I don’t know what I think until I write it down’ (Joan
writing. Didion). (Didion, 2003)
Reading can be vital to achieve that purpose: reading more
widely than the narrow field required by your own academic The important thing is to start, and to start by writing things
discipline, and learning from novels, poetry, memoirs. Poetic down. I say ‘things’ because they might not yet qualify as
techniques such as alliteration, assonance, and rhyme can help thoughts. Time and your own mental process will give greater
us hear language differently, which helps us write differently. shape and definition to the words.
Used sparingly, like seasoning in a soup, such techniques can I often kick-start this process by ‘automatic writing’. This
have a distinctive effect. We learn to use them again, and more begins with a prompt — a word or a short phrase, such as ‘I
effectively as we become more accustomed to the notion. remember’ — that I put in a notebook. Then, without editing,
Barack Obama put it like this: in a stream of consciousness style, I write down the words that
follow on from the original prompt. I write and write without
The act of writing is exactly that powerful. It’s a chance pausing for five or ten minutes. What emerges might not be
to be inquisitive with yourself, to observe the world, coherent, it might be gibberish, but there will be perhaps a
confront your limits, walk in the shoes of others and word, perhaps a phrase that contains a useful insight.
try on new ideas. Writing is difficult, but that is kind The value is that you will have started. And in that BBC
of the point. You might spend hours pushing yourself to Mastermind phrase ‘I’ve started so I’ll finish’. You have some
remember what an old classroom smelled like, or the words to work with, you have a flow, so now you can contin-
timbre of your father’s voice, or the precise colour of ue. The way you continue is by writing and editing.
some shells you saw once on a beach. (Obama, 2021) I emphasise the value of writing by hand in a notebook — I
write in pencil on paper because this seems to put me in closer
That passage is also a reminder of the importance of connection with my thinking. We are all slaves to technology
memory, close cousin to imagination. But the examples so a computer will be used soon, but the computer is most
Obama uses — the smell of a classroom etc. — might be efficient as an editing tool. To become better writers we need
considered irrelevant to academic writing. Your subject of to become better editors of our own writing. The words you
research is unlikely to be ‘old classrooms’ so why put the write down are a draft, and a draft is simply work in progress,
memory of them in your writing? Because each of these however ‘finished’ it looks on the computer screen.
examples is essentially a story, enabling writer and reader
to connect to emotions, and emotion makes writing pow- I’m a lousy copywriter but I am a good editor. So I go to
erful and memorable. The feeling you gain when you reach work editing my own draft. After four or five editings, it
inside yourself in that personal way is generally excluded looks good enough to show to the client. (Ogilvy, 2012,
from academic writing. Yet, writers and readers, we are p.55)
emotional creatures, not simply rational.
In telling stories, metaphors can be effective. Within a few David Ogilvy was one of the great advertising writers of
lines above, Obama tries out, as if for size, a couple of meta- the 20th century. He knew how to write persuasively. Be open
phors that create no misunderstanding but bring to life a more to such examples. You might not be trying to sell a tin of
vivid and interesting description of an abstract process. As baked beans but you are trying to be persuasive. Who are your
readers we respond to his metaphors, and we sense the enjoy- clients? Are they your academic peers, a wider group or, in the
ment he takes from these words, which in turn increases our first place, yourself?
receptiveness to them. It helps to think of writing as a process. It can be an enjoy-
able process because you can find pleasure in the replacement
of the word you used in the first draft with a better one in the
second. And so on, through as many drafts as it takes to make
Why Write? 2 — To Find Out What You Think your words ring more sonorously, sing more powerfully.
There might be one word that stands out and grabs attention
It’s a bit counter-intuitive. It might be more readily accepted even in the first draft. I know which word does that for me, in
that the sentence should be the other way round — ‘You think the first line of this extract from Tom Stoppard’s play The Real
to find out what you will write’. Thing. Does it also jump out for you?
560 Society (2022) 59:556–563

Words don’t deserve that kind of malarkey. They’re to put it aside as a childish state of being. Yet stories — and
innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing the impetus to storytelling — will help writers to engage better
that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you with readers. There are academic papers that make this case.
can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. (Seifert, 2020).
(Stoppard, 1982, Act II, Scene 5) For the purposes of this relatively short article, let me con-
fine my thoughts to the question of narrative structure.
Why Write? 3 — To Persuade Others Beginning, middle, end. This simple description of a story’s
structure still works well at an entry level. We soon get into
You might be expecting ‘to persuade’ as a purpose for your greater complexity — for example, is it best to begin the story
writing. But the ‘others’ is what gives this purpose particular in the middle? But this simple structure can be adapted to a
significance. Under the previous heading my focus was on different form of definition: doubt, exploration, resolution.
individual writers developing their own thinking through Analysis of stories — from Homer onwards — can be
words. Now I am encouraging you — think of this as moving enlightened by this understanding of narrative structure. It also
onto a second draft — to write with greater awareness of who applies to academic writing. Think of the paper you need to
you are writing for. write as a story to be told. What is the doubt that you are
Stephen King, for example, has written about writing first investigating? How did you go about exploring it? How did
with the door closed, then with the door open (King, 2000, you resolve the central question to your own (and the reader’s)
p.178). When the door is closed, no one reads your work satisfaction?
except yourself. After that your words need to come out into
the world to be read by others. Those others might be fellow
academics, but why cut yourself off from wider audiences?
What if your writing can persuade not just your peers? What if Why Write? 4 — To Love the World More
your words can cause ripples in the world?
Of course that means you have to be ambitious for your Writing has unexpected effects on the writer. It sharpens your
writing. But why should academic writers be daunted by such relationship with language itself, encouraging you to appreci-
a thought, particularly if this opens up a different way of ate that language is a vital aspect of our humanity that we
working? I think of a teenage girl completely undaunted by should never take for granted. By increasing this skill, it
speaking to the world’s leaders. sharpens your observation of many other aspects of life. In
“How dare you!” Greta Thunberg spat out the words at the particular it enables you to look at people and the planet with
United Nations. There was no mistaking her tone, and the more empathy, increasing your sense of being in the world
righteous anger of her tone. She went on: and being connected to others.
This might seem a grandiose claim. Not all writers are
Your generation is failing us. But the young people are admirable human beings; and there is no moral advantage in
beginning to understand your betrayal…And if you fail being a writer. But here I am stating a personal belief, trying to
us I say we will never forgive you. We will not let you explain one of the reasons why I love writing so much. Not
get away with this. (Thunberg, 2019) everyone will be able to understand or accept this, but I am
setting out the truth I see from my viewpoint. In We, Me, Them
Given the opportunity to speak truth to the power of the & It I wrote:
world’s leaders, Greta did not shirk. She knew the power of
words and she spoke them with the fate of the planet sharp- Words are your children. Be aware of them, do not let
ening her motivation. She might not have persuaded Donald them run riot while you pretend that they have nothing
Trump, but she recruited millions of people worldwide to her to do with you. They can inflict small, unthinking acts of
cause. cruelty on your neighbours. (Simmons 2022 ed. p.58)
Persuasion does not necessarily work best by the purely
rational exposition of facts. Persuasion often works when your Twenty years later I read George Saunders’ words in his
audience adopts your argument without making a causal con- book, A swim in the pond in the rain. These resonated with
nection to it. From the reader’s viewpoint it could be more me, as he argues that writing changes the state of our minds for
useful to learn from their own discovery than directly from at least a short time afterwards:
your teaching. This does not deny but amplifies the effective-
ness of what you teach. I find myself liking the world more, taking more loving
The way we can do this is through stories. The emotional notice of it.
drive to write is to tell and learn from stories. We discover this I feel luckier to be here and more aware that someday I
from the earliest age but, grown to adulthood, we are schooled will not be. (Saunders, 2021, p. 388)
Society (2022) 59:556–563 561

It’s a matter of connection. Words are a way of connecting wellbeing, not simply to achieve work-related goals. If we
us more effectively with other people. I have long hugged to aspire to be better writers, it repays us by enabling us to get
myself as a kind of mantra EM Forster’s epigraph to Howards more out of life when we commit ourselves to that aspiration.
End: “Only connect”. It explains, to me at least, the way life ‘Writers live twice’ said the writing coach Natalie
works and it guides me on how to live life. I see it imbedded in Goldberg. (Goldberg, 2006). It is not maudlin, at least not in
spirit in every work and person I have quoted from in this my eyes, to make such claims for writing, nor is it morbid. The
article — Darwin’s Origin of Species, for example. simple fact is that the words we write can outlive us. This
“Only connect” are two simple words from a writer. I once might be the longest-term objective you set in your life, but
wrote a poem for which I had been given 26 different words all writers need a purpose for what they do, however long or
plucked randomly from the dictionary, one of which was ‘con- short, simple or complex. When you write with a clear pur-
nected’. Others ranged from the plain ‘dig’ to the obscure pose you maintain your commitment over a longer period, and
‘xenium’, and I titled the poem ‘Everything is connected.’ you return to it with greater clarity and greater willingness. It
(Simmons, 2019, p.15). I believe in the three words of that becomes your legacy.
title as an alternative expression of ‘only connect’, and they The novelist Elise Valmorbida addressed these questions in
are right in their context; but they do not quite achieve the her The Happy Writing Book. In one chapter, drawing on
same succinct purity. In our writing we need to strive for that George Orwell’s Why I Write, she talked about his four mo-
kind of purity, recognising that each word counts, that each tives for writing:
word has to lift the maximum weight of meaning that it can
bear.
John Berger said that “Visual art is a chase after the invis- To some degree, Orwell argues, all writers are motivated
ible.” (Berger, 1972). I believe something similar can be said by a drive for attention, the pleasure to be gained from
about verbal art, which we may call simply ‘writing’. Writing different kinds of beauty (even from the arrangement of
is a chase after the unsayable. We are always striving to say words), the value of sharing experiences, the search for
what cannot actually be said in words, but that should never truth, and aspirations to change the world by influencing
prevent the effort. The joy is in the chase and it is integral to people to think or feel in a certain way. (Valmorbida,
life. 2021, p.13)
If that is so, and it is for me, then it is not irrelevant to
becoming a better writer to enable more intense study of the The attention writers seek is to be read, and for their words
world around us, to feel ourselves in the natural current of life to be believed and respected, to exert influence. If they con-
through the words we use to describe it. There is a structure in tinue to exert influence over time, so much the better. This
nature itself that shapes the way we live: a rhythm that comes brings with it a commitment to the craft of writing, and that
from the narrative of the days, the changing seasons, the craft will deepen over time until the writer is proud to claim
rolling round of the years. Even if subconsciously, these are the title ‘writer’ alongside the other more specific job titles of
vital to the way we construct the phrases, sentences and par- the academic world. You are a writer, Professor.
agraphs of a piece of writing. The right words lead eventually to the attention we some-
The young American poet Amanda Gorman, whose words times call ‘posterity’. Humble as we all no doubt are, posterity
illuminated the inauguration ceremony of President Biden, is a purpose we all secretly wish to achieve. And why not? To
wrote: achieve it, we need to pay our own attention to the details of
the craft to an almost obsessional extent — details such as
I was discovering as I wrote that every pain and onus vocabulary, sentence length, rhythm, punctuation, the activity
that I was writing about was owned, in part, by someone of verbs, the descriptive power of adjectives. Each word has to
else as well. It wasn’t my own singularly, but it was a earn its right to be included.
collective type of experience. (Gorman, 2021) Otherwise, as a UK doctor lamented during the Covid pan-
demic: “loose language costs lives”.
Our words are singular and collective. That realisation
places us, through writing, as swimmers in the stream of life.

Why Write? 6 — To Make Connections

Why Write? 5 — To Help Your Words Live
Longer I have referred to this in previous sections, no doubt because it
is such a fundamental aspect of my writing: so fundamental
By now it should be clear that we are progressing towards a that, as well as underpinning all the other reasons for writing,
philosophy of writing that has the potential to increase our it also becomes my conclusion. Only connect.
562 Society (2022) 59:556–563

The problem is, it has countless meanings. But is that really I suspect that the welcoming of constraints is, at bottom,
a problem? For you as reader, and me as a writer, it’s possible the deepest secret of creativity. (Hofstadter, 1997, p.
to look at the short phrase from multiple angles, from the xix)
relatively mundane (‘improve your network’) to the more
philosophical relationship you adopt with the world. Literature is full of constraints. For example, poetic forms
Perhaps, to grasp the latter more fully, we have to acknowl- such as the haiku or the sonnet, that force minds to become
edge that this article is written in a time of great disconnection, more agile in their use of language. Such constraints can be
in our politics and public discourse, in our longing for a re- creatively liberating, even in academic writing. You could set
ceding sense of community, in our neglect of the planet. yourself a constraint — for example, that the first two words
Yet connection remains a possibility, and we are given at and the last two words of your article will form a sentence, and
least a glimpse of it through the act of writing. But if writing that sentence expresses the theme of your writing. This be-
does not make connection at an emotional level, it creates a comes a frame within which you write what you have to say
distance between writer and reader. And that distance is a gap, on that theme.
a disconnection, that means your thinking will not fully reach Writing is a process of connection. Between words,
that of another person because we need an emotional connec- sentences and paragraphs. From one word to another, from
tion to be made. Some might call this empathy. I might also one person to another, from one state of mind to another. It
call it good writing. You gain an increased ability to find and connects writers to readers, creating a bridge between them to
relate to the feelings and experiences of others, which has an help them build understanding. Good writing creates a con-
energising effect on your use of language. nection that opens readers’ minds to new possibilities. It
changes the way we think and feel, even if only for a short
Be alive to the life in language – on all its levels. Ali time. But in a short life that can be a big deal.
Smith (Smith, 2012). You can feel this when it happens to you, during or after an
intense spell of concentration on writing. You become con-
The quality that seems indisputably desirable, as a writing nected to at least one other, a reader, and connected to the
value, is clarity. Stephen Sondheim, one of the 20th century’s feelings of others. The individual becomes the universal.
great writers (though appreciated equally as a musician), You feel more connected to language and its potential for
placed clarity at the top of his list for recognising good writ- unforeseen discoveries, connected to a thought process that
ing. But…that’s the thing about striving for clarity, there is seeks out the new, connected to a sense of the world’s inter-
always a ‘but’… connectedness and constant ability to surprise.
Writing is a skill that gives us power, writing is an art that
Let me be clear about clarity, however; of itself it is, in opens up meaning, writing is a way to connect our thoughts
the end, not very nourishing. Narrative art must be clear, and emotions to others, to create bonds between people by
but it must also be mysterious. Something should re- sharing feelings and, by doing so, to bring into the world a
main unsaid, something just beyond our understanding. spreading of greater joy.
(Sondheim, 2011, p. xix)

This mysterious quality is ambiguity, which is inherent in

all language. Clarity leads to greater understanding but ambi-
guity shines light on that understanding from different angles. References
As writers we must recognise it, and embrace it for its playful
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the author in Lingua Franca (1996) ‘A Physicist Experiments with It and 26 Ways of Looking at a Blackberry. He is the co-founder of
Social Studies’. influential writing organisations Dark Angels www.dark-angels.org.uk
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