The E.B. White observation about angry writing is my takeaway.
He's not saying don't be angry. He's saying don't let anger become your entire register because then you lose the warming rays of the sun and with them whatever value you had as a writer. Written in 1969 and somehow more relevant now than it probably was then.
Glad you enjoyed that, Benjamin! Yes, the more I worry about how many readers I have (not many), the less energy and enthusiasm I have. So I rarely do (slip occasionally!). Good luck with that story! 👏
When I was a chemistry graduate student I had the great fortune to be advised by the finest scientific writer I have ever known. And his non-scientific writing was equally good. I came to know this when I was writing my master's thesis. My research involved the photochemistry of indole - not as esoteric as it sounds given that indole is found in all kinds of plants and materials and foodstuffs and when it is exposed to light it can produce nasty results - think skunky beer.
The conventional wisdom at the time was that when writing a thesis or a journal article, one should start with the results and conclusions of your research and work backwards to the introduction, and I duly followed this formula. When I had finished the methodology, results and conclusions, I turned my attention to introducing the work. After a couple of weeks of packing everything that could be found in the literature about indole into my intro, I handed in my 'completed' work for review by my advisor. After a couple of weeks of 'crickets' I finally cornered my advisor (in the men's room, as it happens) and asked him about my thesis. He paused and said, "perhaps we should discuss it". You see, I had done a pretty good job on the latter parts of the thesis, but my intro was drivel and unfortunately, the intro is what the reader reads first. Thus began my training in writing.
Every Saturday morning for three months we would meet in the lab or his office for several hours and go over sections of my thesis - paragraph by unnecessarily lengthy paragraph, sentence by run-on sentence and word by word. Sometimes we would spend a half hour thinking and talking (him talking, me listening) about a single sentence. The goal was to say as much as possible in as few words as possible.
When we were finished the re-write of the intro, he had brilliantly, and I mean brilliantly, reduced 10 pages of fluff to a single 10 word sentence that I recall to this day 45 years after it was written - "The gas phase ionization potential of indole is 9.3 eV." Brilliant, elegant, concise, full of meaning and unfortunately, not written by me! Reading that single sentence was a transformational moment. It taught me the enormous power of words. And I practiced his approach throughout my career. After a Ph.D. thesis, 100 journal articles, 9 patents, countless reports and presentations, I think I began to approach his level of writing. Thank you Gene Cherniak.
Such a lovely tribute to a mentor who taught you so much of value, Grant! Clear succinct science writing can be a beautiful thing (if you’re not a fan of fluff). I enjoyed your description of Gene’s line-by-line critique and repair of your thesis. THAT is how we learn a craft in the small details. I had a high school English teacher who wielded a mighty and wicked red pen. He would line out countless perfect (IMnotsoHO!) sentences with many red caps ONW! (Strunk & White’s “Omit needless words!) strewn across the pages. I hated him then and love him now. Popularity ratings of teachers by their students might incentivize some of the wrong things along with the good.
Speaking of writing, have you got any new stories for me? When are you going to publish your LOL funny one about building the shed here on your Substack? Good stuff! 👌
For me I would have to say, “I write, therefore I think”—sometimes I have no idea what I think about something until I start writing! I love your characterization of the essayist as having to pull different outfits from their wardrobe, which is something I definitely strive to do in my own writing. Thank you for sharing, Baird!
“Extraverts figure out what they think by speaking. Introverts like to figure out what they think before speaking. Writing enhances that clarification process.”
This is brilliant. I’m going to be thinking about it for a while.
Thanks James. I used to sit in meetings and wonder why the most thought-full people often spoke the least. As a leader, I made sure to call on them a lot!
The E.B. White observation about angry writing is my takeaway.
He's not saying don't be angry. He's saying don't let anger become your entire register because then you lose the warming rays of the sun and with them whatever value you had as a writer. Written in 1969 and somehow more relevant now than it probably was then.
Thank you Baird.
EBW’s a genius, and that quote about TOO angry is one of my faves. Glad you enjoyed Neela!
Mark Twain is my hero. Thank you for the fantastic quotes of all the authors.
Glad you enjoyed those, Edith. Twain was indeed a genius!
Really helpful and timely Baird.
Writing a short story these past few weeks, and I’m in that phase where you ask yourself, “Does anyone care or resonate with this?”
This reminds me that by seeing it only through that lens, you’re missing most of the point.
Glad you enjoyed that, Benjamin! Yes, the more I worry about how many readers I have (not many), the less energy and enthusiasm I have. So I rarely do (slip occasionally!). Good luck with that story! 👏
When I was a chemistry graduate student I had the great fortune to be advised by the finest scientific writer I have ever known. And his non-scientific writing was equally good. I came to know this when I was writing my master's thesis. My research involved the photochemistry of indole - not as esoteric as it sounds given that indole is found in all kinds of plants and materials and foodstuffs and when it is exposed to light it can produce nasty results - think skunky beer.
The conventional wisdom at the time was that when writing a thesis or a journal article, one should start with the results and conclusions of your research and work backwards to the introduction, and I duly followed this formula. When I had finished the methodology, results and conclusions, I turned my attention to introducing the work. After a couple of weeks of packing everything that could be found in the literature about indole into my intro, I handed in my 'completed' work for review by my advisor. After a couple of weeks of 'crickets' I finally cornered my advisor (in the men's room, as it happens) and asked him about my thesis. He paused and said, "perhaps we should discuss it". You see, I had done a pretty good job on the latter parts of the thesis, but my intro was drivel and unfortunately, the intro is what the reader reads first. Thus began my training in writing.
Every Saturday morning for three months we would meet in the lab or his office for several hours and go over sections of my thesis - paragraph by unnecessarily lengthy paragraph, sentence by run-on sentence and word by word. Sometimes we would spend a half hour thinking and talking (him talking, me listening) about a single sentence. The goal was to say as much as possible in as few words as possible.
When we were finished the re-write of the intro, he had brilliantly, and I mean brilliantly, reduced 10 pages of fluff to a single 10 word sentence that I recall to this day 45 years after it was written - "The gas phase ionization potential of indole is 9.3 eV." Brilliant, elegant, concise, full of meaning and unfortunately, not written by me! Reading that single sentence was a transformational moment. It taught me the enormous power of words. And I practiced his approach throughout my career. After a Ph.D. thesis, 100 journal articles, 9 patents, countless reports and presentations, I think I began to approach his level of writing. Thank you Gene Cherniak.
Such a lovely tribute to a mentor who taught you so much of value, Grant! Clear succinct science writing can be a beautiful thing (if you’re not a fan of fluff). I enjoyed your description of Gene’s line-by-line critique and repair of your thesis. THAT is how we learn a craft in the small details. I had a high school English teacher who wielded a mighty and wicked red pen. He would line out countless perfect (IMnotsoHO!) sentences with many red caps ONW! (Strunk & White’s “Omit needless words!) strewn across the pages. I hated him then and love him now. Popularity ratings of teachers by their students might incentivize some of the wrong things along with the good.
Speaking of writing, have you got any new stories for me? When are you going to publish your LOL funny one about building the shed here on your Substack? Good stuff! 👌
For me I would have to say, “I write, therefore I think”—sometimes I have no idea what I think about something until I start writing! I love your characterization of the essayist as having to pull different outfits from their wardrobe, which is something I definitely strive to do in my own writing. Thank you for sharing, Baird!
Thanks for writing and sending your good thoughts, Ramya! Credit to EB White for the wardrobe metaphor.
“Extraverts figure out what they think by speaking. Introverts like to figure out what they think before speaking. Writing enhances that clarification process.”
This is brilliant. I’m going to be thinking about it for a while.
Thanks James. I used to sit in meetings and wonder why the most thought-full people often spoke the least. As a leader, I made sure to call on them a lot!
There are so many great quotes here but more important are your considered words.
This ➡️ "Those who can, write. Those who can’t, criticize.
Writing out our thoughts, and then contemplating them, is an effective way to add brakes and a steering wheel to our brain’s powerful engine."
How important it is to interrogate our beliefs. To flush out the why. To better form our perspective.
~ ~ ~
The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe. — Gustav Flaubert
Thanks for writing and sending your good thoughts, Stacy!
The miraculous ways of writing and reading...the wonder of it all. Thank you for providing this.
Glad you enjoyed these, Stephen!