Roberts 1 Austin Roberts Professor Padgett ENGL 1101 November 25, 2013 What Makes Writing Good In this

paper it is my job to give a clear definition of what I think works in writing, what is good writing, and what is bad writing. These opinions will be based off of what I have learned in thirteen years of school and nineteen years of existence. Along the way I will also have to look deeper into my own ways of writing. This will be difficult because I have never had to really think about what I appreciate in writing. Also I will look at a few published authors writings and try to pick out what I like and what I dislike. I have certainly tried to critique works from my classmates and friends, but none from actual books or passages. I may not truly know what good writing is, but I do know what writing is effective to me. I do not have a degree. For that matter I havent even completed my first semester of college. But from what I have learned through junior high, high school and college I am to tell you what makes writing good. Good writing can be achieved through simplicity, effectiveness, and simple word choice. My definition of good writing may be someone else's exact definition of bad writing. If that may be, I would listen to that argument because everyone is entitled to their own opinion especially when it comes to what type of literature appeals to them. Certainly everyone wont agree with me and my views about writing, but hopefully my argument will give you some insight on how I feel about it. Good writing is the ability to write so that your audience can completely comprehend what you have written.

Roberts 2 Lets start with the bad. Bad writing is the inability to effectively reach your audience. Whether the author is Stephen King writing to his audience for entertainment purposes, or someone writing the front page of a newspaper giving factual evidence, they must be able to grasp their readers attention. More importantly they must convey their message in a way in which their reader can understand. I believe that two of the biggest aspects of writing are content and word choice. If the audience cannot comprehend the words used by the author then the entire piece is pointless. I will use the poem An Enigma written by Edgar Allan Poe as an example. "Seldom we find," says Solomon Don Dunce, "Half an idea in the profoundest sonnet. Through all the flimsy things we see at once, As easily as through a Naples bonnet-, Trash of all trash!- how can a lady don it? Yet heavier far than your Petrarchan stuff-, Owl-downy nonsense that the faintest puff, Twirls into trunk-paper the while you con it." And, veritably, Sol is right enough. The general tuckermanities are arrant, Bubblesephemeral and so transparent-, But this is, now- you may depend upon it-, Stable, opaque, immortal- all by dint, Of the dear names that he concealed within 't. (Poe) Edgar Allan Poe was said to be one of the greatest poets ever. But, from the words he used in this poem, I cannot understand him whatsoever. Lets look at the poem a little deeper. The poem is spoken word from Solomon Don Dunce. He uses words like Petrarchan, owl-downy, tuckermanities, and ephemeral. All of which I do not know the meaning. This poem does not just have big confusing words, but the order of the words make it tricky as well. Another element I really dislike in this is the use of the word profoundest. Why wouldnt Poe just simply say most profound instead of profoundest? The last thing I want to talk about in this poem is the use of apostrophes. If Poe means to say within it when he writes within t then why not just spell it all the way out? This does not make much sense to me. Throughout my senior year of high

Roberts 3 school my class was required to read a lot of literature similar to this. We read Hamlet and Beowulf which were both challenging. My classmates and I were always finding ourselves asking help from our teacher to make sense of it. Edgar Allan Poe may be a great poet in the eyes of many people. I am not one of them. Now that I have talked about what bad writing is to me, I will talk about what I think good writing is. Writing, to me, is all about clearly communicating your ideas with the readers. If the writer cannot do that then they shouldnt be writing at all. Unless of course they are indeed trying to confuse people. What I think works in writing is keeping it simple, for the most part. When I say keep it simple I mean that sentences do not need to be long and complex. They certainly can be lengthy and descriptive at points but it is unnecessary to try and pack as much as you can in one sentence. Many times throughout the semester when I have read my peers writings in workshop groups, I felt they could have broken up their sentences. Sometimes those sentences would have about three commas and two or three different ideas. I would write on their paper think about breaking up this sentence. Or I would put a mark to signify that a period should go there and capitalize the next word. I felt it would make their paper better if those ideas were separated. They would be more solidified and clear as individual sentences. I also think word choice should be kept simple unless a more descriptive word could be used and still be understandable. When people use a large amount of big and confusing words I feel they are just using those to sound smart. Dont get me wrong. I enjoy reading descriptive text and finding out new meanings to new words but sometimes its just an overload of description. Going back to the Poe poem, he uses a lot of words that I have no clue about their meanings. Im sure there are a lot of people who understand and enjoy that poem but it does not appeal to me.

Roberts 4 I think what works in writing is the perfect combination of good sentence structure and appropriate word choice. I will use an excerpt from Wine to Water by Doc Hendley as an example of what I think works well in writing. I stood there alone in the corner all evening until one girl took pity on me and asked me to dance. It was a mercy dance, though, and that became painfully obvious as she kept looking over her shoulder at her snickering friends while we slowly shuffled back and forth to some Bon Jovi ballad. I felt like a loser. And after that one dance, I retreated to my corner, where I cried. (Hendley 17) I think this passage is perfect for me to plead my case. Hendley uses simple sentences and, in my opinion, great word choice. The sentences are a mix of complex and very simple. He was also able to be creative and use words like snickering instead of laughing and shuffled instead of stepped. Also he doesnt beat around the bush. He gets right to his points which makes the content easy to understand. Hendley is not an author by trade and I think that is a huge reason as to why his writing is so easy to read and understand. He is just a normal guy so he doesnt use complex words or substantially difficult sentence structure. Doc Hendley was able to tell his story clearly and had enough description to make it entertaining, which is why I think this is good writing. Good writing is all about keeping it simple. Writers dont need to use lengthy words and complex sentence structure if it takes away from the content that they are trying to get across to the readers. Good writing is also effective writing. Readers should be able to completely comprehend what they are reading and be capable of explaining what they read. Paragraphs should not have to be reread two or three times for comprehensions sake. If it truly is good writing then the reader can read it once. Good writing is all up to the reader and what they think.

Roberts 5 A definition of good writing will probably be different for anyone you ask. But I believe that good writing can be achieved through simplicity, effectiveness, and simple word choice.

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Works Cited

Hendley, Doc. Wine to Water. New York: Avery, 2012. Poe, Edgar Allan. An Enigma. Philadelphia: Sartains Magazine, 1848.