If I asked you to name one distinguishing characteristic of a great writer, what would you say? “Creativity,” probably. Most people would. It’s what first comes to mind when you think of the art of writing, and there are reams of material both online and in print to support that claim. The great writers of history are famous for summoning the muses that bestowed them with creativity and for developing an unhealthy dependence on substances to fuel that creative spark. To be in a state of flow is to be imbued with creative inspiration, when the words just roll off your fingertips onto paper or screen, when the way they are strung together makes sense and aligns perfectly with the thoughts sprouting in your brain.
The more I write, however, the more I grow certain that the counterintuitive secret to good writing is not, in fact, creativity, but logic.
Good writing is not just setting words into a beautiful pattern. It involves planning the ‘pattern of patterns,’ that is, understanding how those individual prettily patterned sentences weave together to form the fabric of an interesting story. Good writing is the art of arranging those individual sentence patterns in the most persuasive or thought-provoking way so as to arrest the attention of the reader. The reasoned and logical flow of a well-constructed narrative is what lends that je ne sais quoi to a piece.
This isn’t just applicable to essays or non-fiction. Fiction is also buoyed by logic. A fictional story without a logical plot is simply a river of beautiful words, much like poetry. You wouldn’t really enjoy a story with loopholes in the plot, would you? It would detract from your enjoyment of that piece of fiction and make you less inclined to read anything more by that author.
That’s why many novelists draw detailed outlines of their books before they begin. Even those that prefer to write in a state of creative flow, letting the actions of their characters unfold in surprising ways as they work, rearrange the order of their scenes on revisiting their drafts. In this case, the plot coalesces as they write; the actions of their characters dictate the logical sequence of events in the story. It’s the reason why many writers through history have written the names of scenes on trusty old index cards that can be reshuffled over and over in physical space (like the floor or wall) in order to achieve the perfect narrative arc for their tale.
When we write in a state of flow, words often emerge in a ‘stream of consciousness’ form that mirrors the lightning-speed whiplashes of our brain. As our brains flit from one thought to another related to the topic we are gnawing over, we transcribe our musings on paper. Our thoughts on a topic or an idea radiate outwards in loosely connected branches, like the ‘radiant thinking’ that British psychology author Tony Buzan popularized as the term ‘mind map.’ It’s called so for a reason; if you’ve ever seen or created a mind map, you’ll notice how it visually embodies the trains of thought that we often embark on, one thought leading to another, that leads to yet another.
However, the way in which our mind ruminates and conjures up thoughts is often not the best way to convey those thoughts to an audience. Structuring your thoughts and creating a framework for your ideas is imperative to your success as a writer.
When I edit the work of other writers, I frequently find myself reordering the sentences in a paragraph or a section for better readability i.e., for better logical flow. When sentences are reordered logically, readers can metaphorically climb the ladder of the writer’s thoughts to the top rung that affords them a 360-degree view. That’s why I usually spend about 60-70% of the time I have allocated to an article on doing research and structuring my narrative. I find that it makes the writing almost effortless.
When the writers I edit request feedback on their writing, I tell them just one thing: learn to edit your own work. By that, I mean – finish your draft early, set aside your writing for a day or more if you can afford it, and return to it with fresh eyes. This simple act is all that’s needed to step out of your own meandering mind into that of a reader. More often than not, you’ll quickly notice and amend the flaws in logic that obscure the true meaning you intended to convey.
I’ll end with a quote by Paul Graham, the always perspicacious co-founder of the world’s premier startup accelerator YCombinator, whose recent tweet encapsulated what I had been thinking for years:
So the next time you find yourself in a creativity rut, stop waiting for a muse to float by and inspiration to strike. Instead, start with a structure and you may just find that you can think your way to great writing.
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