Just some early morning musings on good writing....

The book I am reading right now (Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee) is one of the most well-written I have ever read, and I have read a lot. So waking up at 4 a.m. and not being able to get back to sleep, I get to thinking about exactly what makes it so good, and I can't really figure it out exactly. What does he do that other writers don't do? Why are some people good writers, while others are not? What exactly does being good as a writer mean? Does it depend somewhat on the reader and his preferences? Or would the quality be recognized by everyone? Is there a book I can read on the subject? Can one learn to be a good writer?

I'm not talking about plot here at all. An adequate writer with an original plot can come up with a best seller, and there is nothing wrong with that at all. Suspense is always helpful in keeping a reader turning the pages. But a good writer can get along with only a minimum of plot. I'm thinking of Milan Kundera, for example (Immortality). His novels are filled with such sharp, universally true observations about life and humanity that they get along very well without being filled with events and suspense.

Instead, I'm thinking about the pleasure some writers can provide just with their writing, with its beauty, clarity, elegance, style, whatever. Ease of readability is important, I think, but that does not mean that sentences have to be simple and short. Gabriel Garcia Marquez ( Love in the Time of Cholera) has sentences that go on forever, and yet are easy to read because they flow. In contrast, Henry James' (The Golden Bowl) long sentences jerk and have no rhythm, making him almost unreadable (at least for me).

I think part of being a good writer is having the ability to really see things and people and then being able to translate the visual into words. Michael Shaara (The Killer Angels) made me see a Civil War battlefield. Joseph Conrad makes me see his characters.

I've come to the conclusion that one can be taught to be an adequate writer; a writer of best-sellers, even; a writer of "important" books, even. But I'm thinking that being a really good writer is an inborn talent. In my mind, I compare writers to singers: anyone can be taught to be a better singer; a great many people can learn to be adequate singers, to hit the notes, etc. But then some people come along who are really good, and it all appears to be so effortless, so natural for them. It seems they were just born with the ability.

I am thankful for good writing, however it was accomplished. It brings me joy.