How Do I Know if My Writing Is Good?
This is a very tricky, multi-part question, because there is no single objective answer. It is a mixture of objective and subjective factors that are constantly in flux. What one person considers good another may consider terrible, and what themes one author may choose to write about may be themes others don’t consider worth reading about.
That said, there are some objective standards. Most people would probably agree that inability to string sentences together coherently is bad writing. But the opposite is not always true; ability to string together coherent sentences does not necessarily make good writing. Writers must have some sense of what they consider good for themselves, but their own standards may change over time. I know mine certainly have. What I considered good writing in my twenties I no longer consider good enough for my current level of wordsmithing. I would hope most people feel the same; it is always disappointing when an author fails to grow during their writing career.
Given that the subjective ideas of what makes a work good may vary not only from writer to write, but from reader to reader, and even from audience to audience, objective standards seem hard to pin down. On the other hand, there are some general things that one recognizes as good or bad in the literary world that aren’t entirely subjective. I’m sure that many people will not agree with me, but here is my attempt to break down some of the elements of writing in at least some objective format.
Beginning with the first point, the mechanics of writing are probably the easiest to agree on. One doesn’t necessarily have to have a degree in English to write effectively. But if someone can’t keep to the same tense, or if they are constantly using the wrong words, or if they can’t figure out how to say something to describe a scene or an action so that it makes sense, they’re probably not writing well. Somewhat harder to decide on are authors who use words that don’t quite mean what they’re supposed to, or who only use strange grammar some of the time. That doesn’t mean that if you write like an English textbook, your writing is good. However, command of the language gives you a leg up on effectively communicating your vision.
Another element, closely related to mechanics, is complexity of sentence structure. Writing has a natural rhythm, and some authors’ works just seem to flow better than others. This isn’t necessarily accidental. An understanding of how to break up sentences, how to juxtapose long and short, to invert sentence structure, and to do all of this while seeming to be speaking naturally in the voice of the work, is something that can be instinctive, or can be learned. Generally, if you write sentences that are all short and choppy, you will be setting a certain mood. If you want more than one mood, you probably need to change things up now and then. Effective books, even those with staccato writing, do that, though the reader may not recognize it when they see it. How you change things up depends a great deal on what sort of work you’re writing, and what your individual voice is.
Detail is one of the most major elements that can be used to achieve an effect. Deciding what detail you do and don’t want, given the intended perception of the work, is something to be thought out ahead of time. If you’re like me, you want a great deal of detail. Sometimes, in my case, I have to carefully pare that down, because there is certainly such a thing as too much. On the other hand, sometimes what detail you leave out of a story is more telling than what you leave in. What is important is deciding, consciously, how you want to achieve your aim. Good writers tend to choose the level and specifics of the details they are choosing to add to their story. In general, poor writers tend to be more random, putting in too much detail, too little detail, poorly chosen detail, or randomly shifting detail.
Many other issues, such as characterization are subsets of the detail issue. Creating a striking character has a lot to do with what detail one does and doesn’t put into their work. Whether choosing to show a reader internal motivations or displaying a character strictly from the outside, the writer chooses what part of the character the reader is introduced to. When carefully chosen, the character should clearly come off to the reader the way the writer intends – or at least to some extent. Obviously, the interaction between the work and the reader isn’t always in the author’s hands. But careful detail choice is a way to minimize the difference between the way the author intends something to be seen and the way the reader sees it.
There are several other things an author puts into their writing that can strengthen or weaken it. Though there is no need for an author to consciously add themes into their work, careful manipulation of themes can immeasurably improve many works. Knowing the basics of what you’re writing about and presenting it as you wish it to be taken assist you in creating effective writing.
A good plot is important to keep the reader’s interest and carry them from beginning to end. Cohesiveness is an important factor; having the story consistent from beginning to end is very important in good and effective writing, and having all the elements tie in – plot, characters, details, themes – improves writing and keeps it interesting to a reader. That cohesiveness doesn’t have to be in a first draft, but by the end of your process, all the pieces should tie in together to support what the writer is trying to do.
In the end, I think good writing comes down to a few elements. Choice: how do you choose the words to create the effect you are striving for? Cohesiveness: is your work unified, and do all the pieces fit together? And finally, effectiveness: does your writing do what you want it to do? Essentially, what a writer is trying to do is focused on the single point of communicating effectively the vision they have in their own mind.
It’s all about communication in the long run. Good writers understand how they are using words to communicate with the reader. That doesn’t mean that the reader takes away only what the writer puts in, or that they can’t misinterpret things. But it does come back to whether there is control, consistency, and effectiveness.