Writing With Annie Dillard

     Reading Annie Dillard frightens me. Not so much by what she has to say (isn't that flattering), but how she says it. She knows what she's about.

     Dillard taught writing classes at Wesleyan University and insisted that anyone in the world could be a writer. One had only to work hard and learn the techniques; talent is nothing without hard work. One such technique she learned from Samuel Johnson's writings. I don't know about you, but I'm certainly open to learning from Mr. Johnson.

Step One
     Take a polished piece of writing (in the case of Dillard's students it was likely a non-fiction essay) and circle all of the verbs.

Step Two
     Add them up. 12 verbs you say? Are they good verbs? Can you double that amount?

Step Three
     What's a good verb? One that communicates the exact action. If you used an adverb get rid of it...that only means you used the wrong verb. Did he walk quickly or did he sprint? That one page, slogged with description, will come alive.
     But I found another of Dillard's tactics even more beneficial. After polishing and re-polishing your work, take up some scissors and, as Annie says, "Cut your voice free." Snip out only the good sentences. Yes, you know what those are. Staple these fragments to a paste board. Leave plenty of space. Now, write in the necessary "connecting sentences" to string all your good ones together...be as minimal as possible.

"One of the things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better." - The Writing Life