Stuff it in your desk drawer!

Source: photo taken by the author.

How can you tell if something you've written has real staying power and lasting value? Perhaps you've heard writers talk about the fabled “desk drawer.” If given the luxury of time, writers can set aside their early drafts (by, for example, putting them in a desk drawer) and then pull them out months -- maybe even years -- later to look at them with “fresh eyes” for revision. Basically, the extended time away turns you into a different reader than you were while writing the first draft, and you are sure to identify areas for improvement that you overlooked in the heat of first-draft creation. Of course, a daily newspaper writer on deadline does not enjoy this luxury of time (even less today, in the era of 24-hour internet news). Nor, certainly, does a student scratching out an essay within a time limit for a “writing on demand” standardized test.

This “desk drawer” theory applies to reading as well as writing. Spending “time away” from a book and then re-reading it will tell you whether or not it’s a worthy book. Should you find yourself later in life re-reading a book you either loved or hated in school, you will sometimes discover you now hold the opposite of your former opinion about it. That’s not because the book has changed, but because you have. A substantial chunk of life experience has made you a different person … and a different reader. As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus put it, we never step in the same river twice. The current has irrevocably changed the river just as time has altered us.

Sometimes, however, a book holds up and continues to impress us throughout the stages of our life. These books are the keepers. For example, when I was a teenager, my brother-in-law left an old copy of the science magazine Omni at our family home. Bored one day, I picked it up to read and was drawn into the novella “Sandkings” by George R.R. Martin (probably due to an accompanying illustration). I recall tearing through the pages of this gripping science fiction/horror tale, completely unable to stop reading. Years later, I stumbled across the same story -- now out of print -- in an anthology of award-winning science fiction tales. Re-reading Martin’s story as an adult, I was still captivated. Today, using a battered photocopy, I teach “Sandkings” at the start of every school year as a “can’t miss” story. Even the most reluctant readers will be swept up by its suspense and startling imagery. “Sandkings” is a little known masterpiece of suspense, pacing, structure, foreshadowing, and establishing mood.

As a young man, I read with keen interest the nonfiction book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer upon its first publication. About ten years later, when I made a mid-career change into teaching, I re-read the book with an eye toward making it a summer-reading assignment, and I thought, “Wow, this is still an awesome book.” Ten years after that, I re-read it yet again as I considered adding it to my regular 11th-grade curriculum, and I thought, “WOW, this is STILL an awesome book!” Across a span of 20 years, from age 30 to 50, Into the Wild has continued to have a profound impact on me. As it does also on the teenagers I teach. Whether they consider Chris McCandless to be a dreamy impractical fool, or a profound transcendental thinker, or something in between, few of my students are apathetic about his portrayal in the book.

So remember, whether you’re writing or reading, if you want to find the really good stuff, give it some time!

© 2014 Bob Dial.  All rights reserved.

Active reading: read with a pen!

Source: photo taken by the author.

You've probably heard the term “‘active listening” before. That’s the process of using body language, asking questions, etc. to engage in meaningful conversation. You have heard of this, yes? (Nod now so I know you've been listening). OK, there is also such a thing as “active reading,” but I prefer to call active reading “reading with a pen.” Active reading involves such strategies as highlighting text and taking notes, writing down questions raised by the text, noting other writers or works of literature the text reminds you of, and sometimes disagreeing with the text.

So if this is a blog about writing, why discuss reading? Because the two are inextricably linked. In order to become a good writer, you must be a curious (and preferably, a voracious) reader. After all, if you are not familiar with what else has already been written, how can you expect to write anything novel? Just as a lawyer must be well versed in the precedents of case law, a writer has to know the body of work that he or she stands upon.

And when you do read, don’t read passively. If you are a college student, one beautiful benefit is that you own the books you purchase for classes. Therefore, you can write in them as much as you like. And do so! I once heard a teacher say that no book has truly been read unless it is marked up, creased and torn, and covered with stains. So go ahead and cover those books with notes, questions, underlined ideas and sentences, you name it. The process of underlining, highlighting and making notes in the margins of a book is called annotating a text. You should get in the habit of making many annotations. As a college student, I used to write notes like “cf. Steinbeck” in the margin of literature anthologies. “Cf.” is the abbreviation for “confer,” and I was reminding myself that a passage in the anthology reminded me of something I had previously read by John Steinbeck and to go and check the applicable Steinbeck passage.

Remember, reading is active, not passive. You are engaged in a conversation with the text. Whether the author of last week’s best seller or the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle from thousands of years ago, writers are talking to you, their reader. So go ahead and talk back to them!

© 2014 Bob Dial.  All rights reserved.

Reading like a writer

Source: Wikimedia Commons public domain image.

The ability to read like a writer is one important skill you’ll need to master to become a successful college composition student. I always like to say that “reading like a writer” is analogous to “looking at a building like an architect.” I am not an architect, but I can still look at a building and appreciate its aesthetic beauty. But a trained architect can look at a building, appreciate its aesthetic qualities, and also expertly explain the construction and design techniques that went into making the building beautiful. In a like manner, a writer can read a story or essay and appreciate it aesthetically, but also read to understand how the piece of literature was constructed. A writer may ask, what techniques did the author use to create certain effects, and how can I experiment with those same techniques in my own writing? This is why I’m a big fan of reading a story or essay more than once. Read the first time for basic understanding and aesthetic enjoyment. Then read the second time with the “eye of a writer” to comprehend the design elements that led to your enjoyment (or perhaps the design flaws that led to your consternation!). To this end, most readings in a good composition class will serve as both materials to prompt ideas for writing topics and class discussion and as models of accomplished writing styles that can be imitated. Remember, writers are never “just” reading, but always seeking fresh techniques to hone their craft.

© 2014 Bob Dial.  All rights reserved.