Good Just Because They Exist

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January 8 2011

Haven’t finished Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth but have picked up The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak in preparation for book club with Jill and Liz and the crew.  Zusak writes in short telling sentences.  It reads as a concise tool in his writing trade.  His phrases illustrate a deliberate choice of words.  When reading a book where every few paragraphs is a word you may be familiar with but are not close to, it causes me to wonder – how did he learn all those vocabulary words?  And if the desire of writing is to communicate ideas to anyone who wants to embrace them, would using well known words instead of the alternative host of beautiful and clever ones be ideal?  Or, is the use of less used words the chance to teach the teeming groves of words in waiting to anyone who is paying any amount of attention. What constitutes “good” writing? The ideas being conveyed coupled with the way they are dressed in letters and symbols which represent ideas and pauses and tone of voice and level of sound of the voice constitute “good” writing as identified by those who know. Good writing may also be described as the honest attempt of a person to express an idea, a sentiment, an experience for its own sake. It may not be intended to be read or understood by anyone else. These two hundred and sixty nine words are good just because they exist on the page. They’ve been taken from a mind, passed through the fingers and landed on the page. The fourteen minutes it has taken to write these words has given the writer a chance to disengage from the voice of lists and should and could and will and haven’t and might and must. In this quiet space of keeping time while forming words that meld into meaning is as valuable to the writer whether or not the punctuation is exact, the spelling is flawless or the phrasing is lovely and well thought out.