What makes for good writing?

Plan ahead for a productive season with us 

Hey! If you are already thinking ahead to autumn and to the deliciousness of focus that season brings, consider the Atelier. This coaching program runs along the school year calendar. In it, each member – me included – focuses on one project. We make great progress and learn a ton about our creative process. 

The Atelier is accepting applications now – if you want to make serious and fun progress on a project, this is the program for you. All the details are here. 

A cool reading job I did this month 

Recently, I was invited to be a juror for the Courage to Write literary grant sponsored by the DeGroot Family Foundation. Two other jurors and I read 33 applications. They included a letter and a sample of the writing. We were judging on several criteria, including of course the quality of the writing. 

I accepted this invitation because I have never done this. I knew I would learn from doing it. 

It was fun and an honor to peek into these writers’ worlds. To learn about their passion projects and to appreciate the commitment they have to write even when life is super busy and complicated. 

I also wanted to be a juror because pitching your idea in a succinct and compelling way is vital for anyone wanting to bring their work to the world. I help my Atelier members learn how to present their ideas. It’s not easy!

After reading through all the applications, I have one piece of advice for anyone who wants to present their idea to the world. 

Make it easy for people to talk about your work. Some might call this the ‘elevator pitch’. Whatever you call it, get the central idea of your project into one short sentence that’s easy for people to remember. 

I found myself wanting to share a couple of the project ideas with my husband. The easier it was to refer to the project, the more likely we are to share it. 

What makes for good writing? 

I recently finished Maggie O’Farrell’s This Must Be the Place and Tana French’s The Likeness. Now I’m reading The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett. 

It’s a rare book that I LOVE. So I’ve been curious about what I consider good writing. In this post, I share some thoughts from my book group and also what I consider ‘good writing’. 

This piece focuses on fiction. I read a lot of non-fiction, too, and that kind of book has different criteria for me. 

This is of course highly subjective, but this is the kind of thing I ponder in the middle of just about everything: what makes for good writing? 

My book club had a couple of less than compelling picks last year, so as we prepare to choose our next set of books, we collectively asked ‘what makes for good writing?’ 

I took some notes and by the end of the discussion, of course it was obvious that we all have different takes on ‘good writing’. And we also realized that we want that variety. If we all had the same metrics, the discussion would be uninspired. 

Here are some of the things we want when we are reading fiction. 

• Easy to get into and read
• Be able to relax, enjoy, and be immersed in the book
• Don’t want to be distracted from the story
• No didacticism, teachy, preachy stuff (sorry Barbara Kingsolver)
• Emotionally intelligent
• Want a challenge/want to learn something/makes you think/changes you 
• Like when the author is trying to do something different/unique storytelling (How Much of These Hills Is Gold)

For me, I love lyrical prose. I adore sentences that move me, stop me reading, make me go WHOA. I want to be moved emotionally and I want a peek into a world. 

I mostly read historical fiction by women featuring strong female characters. I tend to avoid contemporary fiction that mirrors real life too much. Honestly, I read fiction at night to shut off the world. I don’t want something that is more of the same. 

That’s it for today! What is ‘good writing’ for you as a reader? As a writer? Share your thoughts on the Original Impulse blog here.