So, what exactly constitutes a “writer” to be deemed as “good”? Am I a good writer? I’m on the fence. How does one decide whether or not they are a good writer? How does one determine – and to what degree – that you are a good writer? Does one need proof? Like a degree in English Literature, to become a professor in English Literature, or an international best-selling author or to receive an A at the end at the end of the day on your report card? It’s a question that appears to have some magical, formulaic answer. I believe, for better or for worse, it doesn’t.
It’s incredibly difficult to be a good writer, whether it is a business letter – formal or informal, a creative essay, a research paper, a script or a novel, when trying to provide a good piece of writing, you are unsuccessful. It is not that you cannot write but it’s because you always try to be original, trying to find proper structure to your sentences appropriately. Writing is more than just imagination and plot to a storey; good writing includes craft, strong word choices, constant editing, the illusive element called “voice” and perseverance.
I was under the illusion that in order to write successfully, it was required that I will have to “ramp-up” the amount of syllables used in each word, and presumed that the less intelligible my writing becomes, the more likely I’ll be classified as an intellectual. Through trial and error, attempting to write in ostentatious and high-falutint sentences, I realized that I was under false pretenses and my writing never really improved. Instead, it merely high-lighted my careless spelling mistakes, poor sentence structure and not being able to keep my written context under one consistent tense.
It caught my attention when I came across a simple, yet powerful, quotation that a successful author declared, “There’s nothing intellectually humiliating about writing clearly”. I also have the tendency to write long elaborate sentences while forcing in as much...