To our granddaughter - a young author-to-be

A short time ago some of our grandkids visited after a lengthy absence. I got a bit of a feel for the directions their career ambitions are taking.

Vanessa has been leaning toward the culinary arts. I would love to offer good advice to you, Vanessa, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t be of much help. Your mother and aunts and uncle would remember the time I tried to grill some pork chops. Perfectly respectable pork chops became piles of ashes. I didn’t know it made a difference whether the shiny side of the foil was up or down. Vanessa, you are already better at this than I will ever be.

Jasper is either going to be an artist or an engineer – something in that vein. His artistic ability, and his willingness to take on artistic challenges, is astounding. The human hand may be the most difficult thing to draw. He drew several hands, and did very well. For most of their time here Jasper was on the couch with his charcoal and sketch book. I couldn’t be of much help to you, either, Jasper. I can’t draw a stick figure if you give me a pencil and a ruler.

Livvy – Olivia Paige, if you please – wants to be a writer. That, I know a little about. To Livvy, our future author, a little wisdom. Well, maybe it’s wisdom.

If you would write, read. Read read read read read. Read more.

There was a picture in a magazine many years ago of Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway was a Nobel Prize recipient – one of the great authors of the twentieth century. The picture was meant to portray Hemingway as a sportsman, as a “man’s man.” It showed him holding up a huge fish that he’d caught, and a huge bottle of rum.

There’s something else that Hemingway did. There’s no picture of him doing it. Hemingway read. He devoted three hours every day to reading, and he was serious enough about reading that he did it in a soundproofed room. He read everything that came to his attention, anything that was of any importance. Books, magazines, newspapers – anything. And I can’t help but think that a picture of him doing that would have been so much more constructive than that picture with his fish and his rum.

If you would write, start writing now. Write something every day. Write a journal, write stories, write reports for school.

Study another language when you can. The other language will be structured differently from English, and that will help you better understand the structure of your own language and the nature of language itself. You’ll use this toolbox much better if you know the tools in it.

In all this reading, in all this writing, you will develop the skills needed to ask yourself some important questions:

What makes a good book good? What makes a bad book bad?

How do you build a good sentence? How do you structure a strong paragraph? The best books are no more than the sentences and paragraphs that are in them. (I think you would be surprised and a bit disappointed at the number of students at the college level who cannot put together decent sentences, let alone paragraphs. A decent essay? Forget it. Don’t you be that person!)

A significant number of famous authors early in their careers taught college English. A sizeable group also wrote for newspapers and magazines. There is more than one route into this profession. Just an aside.

When you can, use a variety of words for the same concept. (Today’s practice: rewrite that last sentence several times, never using the same set of words twice.) Don’t let yourself get monotonous – boring.

Later, when you do more extensive writing, form or join a group of others who also enjoy writing. Compare notes. You’ll learn much from one another. In fact, if you’re writing now and you know others who love to write, who share your passion for language, join them now. It will be good practice for later. Nobody ever wrote well all by themselves.

 

Listen closely to what is being said around you. Watch closely what is happening. What does a flower really look like? What does a loud thunderclap do to a group of people? Why? Question, question, always question. (I think you've got that part down!)

I really hope this is a helpful start. The final thing I’d say: If this is what you want to do, if you believe that your voice should be heard, don’t ever give up. Don't make my mistake. The temptation to surrender will confront you. Don’t you surrender!