On Writing Well

Last updated on: February 10, 2011 at 12:06 am by Scot McKnight

On Writing Well 2011-02-08T20:07:18-06:00 Scot McKnight

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It’s against the grain to say so, but for the life of me I can’t see why there’s so much gloating over Stanley Fish, How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One. Fish is well known and a leading light among the literati, and such connections may be the source of the gloating. I’ve enjoyed plenty of his essays and criticism. Someone must have asked him to turn his hand to writing a book about writing, he did it, and then the movers and shakers got it in their craw that this book would actually replace Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style (4th Edition). Early indications are that all the right places are praising the book.

But before I tip my cards for you to see what I’ve got, a brief summary:

In a nutshell, Fish argues writing is about sentences, which of course it is but yet isn’t. If you want to be a good writer, he says, you have to love sentences. Which I suppose is true. I’d say loving words is just as important, but I’ll give him his point. Good writing is about constructing sentences.

Then Fish goes about what might be called The Great Sentences Program. As Mortimer Adler and his cronies wanted to find The Great Books, Fish wants to find The Great Sentences. He doesn’t tell us enough about how we find Great Sentences or what makes a Great Sentence better than a Good Sentence.

Once we’ve got those Great Sentences, Fish suggests, we are to break them down to see what they do and why they work so well — he does this and does this expertly. Then we are to practice using them ourselves by using them as templates. He does this himself, and the irony of it is all is that his own examples aren’t that good, which makes using templates as molds an unattractive approach to writing well.

Before the jump: What’s your favorite book on writing? What are the top two or three elements of writing that you have learned? What do you think of using templates?

His examples are almost all too long to be quoted here but here’s one, from J.L. Austen: “And we must at all costs avoid over-simplification, which one might be tempted to call the occupational disease of philosophers if it were not their occupation.” [Begin with a mild statement … add something that heightens the mood and sharpens the tone … before threat is made more explicit. Here’s his example: “It’s important not to be too late, which is a black mark on the records of employees and even more so on the records of ex-employers.”]

Fish discusses what a sentence is (a structure of logical relationships – blech), what a good sentence is (his stuff on rhetorical impact is very good), breaks sentences into two sorts — subordinating and additive — adds a chp on the satiric style, and then has some great examples of first sentences and last sentences.

Fish is a master and this is a good book, and using the template to learn to write better is a good idea. But the book isn’t good enough because writing involves so much more. If a student comes to me to ask about how to write better, Fish would not appear in my top ten list. To be sure, Fish is right that the age-old #1 Strunk and White has become increasingly dated because of an older prescriptive grammar approach, but moving away from Strunk and White is not making writing better.

When it comes to writing better, I still recommend — hands down — William Zinsser, On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction.

Books on writing somehow make errors worse:

There’s a howler 2/3ds down p. 15: “If it is your goal is to write well-constructed sentences” — ah, the irony, and on p. 25, 4th line up, “to” is omitted. I’ve had my share of howlers and mistakes, so I empathize.

Writing & Blogging

Writing

Previous Post

February 9, 2011

One of the most pleasant scenes in the world...

Next Post

February 10, 2011 An Afternoon With John Polkinghorne (RJS)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "Lord, why do you stand far off?"

Select your answer to see how you score.

David Moses Jeremiah Job