This was my first foray into Douglas Wilson land (though I have listened to several of his sermons) as far as literature is concerned, and I wasn’t disappointed. The book is subtitled, ‘Hot Tips for the Writing Life’ – quite pithy, and quite appropriate.
I am not a ‘Writer’ in the sense that I have no real desire to be published or become a professional. But I love reading, and I am a communicator by calling, who spends a good deal of time writing, so I was inclined to give the book a look. I’m glad I did.
The book is very succinct. It is not only a small book, but is loaded with brief points, one after the other in machine gun style. It is mainly lifestyle advice for those who would cultivate the ability to express themselves.
Enough summary, here are some things that stuck:
Memorable Quotes
It was from Dickson that I learned the Gadarene Swine Rule – just because a group is in formation doesn’t mean it knows where it is going (p. 52).
I saw this rule put into practice Sunday night at an easter egg hunt as the children ran out of the building to begin the scavenging.
Read boring books on writing mechanics. Include…books on how to write dialogue, books on how not to write dialogue (‘I dropped my toothpaste!’ he said crestfallenly)… (p. 50).
I love puns. Here’s a good one somebody told me today: ‘They were trying to replace the human cannonball, but struggled to find someone of the right caliber.’
The writer’s life is a scavenger’s life. A little here and a little there, diligently pursued, and pretty soon you have a lot of material. When you come across a striking phrase…make note of it (pp. 107-108).
He takes note of a couple he has come across himself:
If Chandler said that a guy had a cleft chin you could hide a marble in, that should come in useful sometime. How could it not come in useful? If Wodehouse said somebody had an accent you could turn handsprings on, then he might have been talking about Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland. Tinker with stuff. Get your fingerprints on it (p. 11).
I came across one tonight reading with my daughter (can you guess the book, no googling?): ‘And she looked up after him into the sky, whence his song was still falling like a shower of musical hailstones.’ I wonder if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I think it was a good thing, but it’s more clever if it was a bad thing.
What I’m taking from the Book
Well, enough quotes, let’s move on. I like that Wilson emphasized the writing life. As a preacher (yes I’m a preacher), it’s easy to see and apply the importance of this. So much of what we gain is simply gained by living. Life – joy, sadness, suffering, et al – is what so much of what we read and hear is missing. Give me a story by someone who has lived, and let me write and speak as someone who has lived.
And above all, I’m just thankful for a book that praises words. Words are wonderful aren’t they? I wouldn’t be writing, and you wouldn’t be reading, without them. We would be nothing without them, for it is through words, not to mention the Word, that God chose to reveal himself. Human language is a marvelous blessing, let me treat it as such.
Mortimer Adler put it well:
…Something quite mysterious, almost magical, occurs [when a child learns to read]. At one moment in the course of his development the child, when faced with a series of symbols on a page, finds them quite meaningless. Not much later – perhaps only two or three weeks later – he has discovered meaning in them; he knows that they say ‘The cat sat on the hat.’ How this happens no one really knows…Indeed, this discovery of meaning in symbols may be the most astounding intellectual feat that any human being ever performs – and most humans perform it before they are seven years old! (How to Read a Book, MJF: 1972, p. 25).
Let me then be passionate about the way I speak and write. Let me take it seriously, yet joyfully. Let me speak no idle word, yet let me speak and write liberally. I’m thankful tonight for the ability to speak and write, and to be spoken and written to.
I’m starting my commonplace book. I’m going to take Wilson’s advice to take note of memorable phrases and the like. This blog is somewhat similar to that. It’s meant to be a place where I can record the main points I take from daily reading so that I can go back to them when memory fails. Would you consider doing the same?
