Steinbeck Used Six Things Related to Writing That Kill Mediocrity

 Checklist — Writers on Writing 1 (John Steinbeck)

Six writers on the craft of writing and their writing processes: From forgetting your generalised audience to the necessity of ‘being crazy dumbsaint of the mind’, they explain the secrets of writing as well as share the tips and techniques on how to write well. We have John Steinbeck today.

📖 Contents

• Introduction
• Recipe for Art?
• About the Writer: John Steinbeck
  
• John Steinbeck - Six Tips on Writing
• Six Tips on Writing from John Steinbeck: A Concise Checklist
• Read Books by John Steinbeck
  

Introduction

For the next few days (or weeks), I will be posting a series titled: Checklist — Writers on Writing Process. This will feature six prominent writers. All of them are from the West who write in English. The checklist will incorporate their tips and tricks, advices plus suggestions and solutions on writing in general and how to write better in specifics.

How do we write better? How do we write interesting stories? Is there a way to learn how to write critical essays? For me, how I can improve my creative writing skills? There are no hard and fast rules but it is possible to write better and write more with a few guidelines. This series serves to find the answers to these questions.   

The writers in the series include:

1. John Steinbeck - Six tips on writing
2. Ezra Pound - List of the six types of writers and two rules for forming an opinion
3. Jack Kerouac - List of 30 beliefs and techniques for prose and life
   
4. David Ogilvy - 10 tips on writing
   
5. Henry Miller - 11 commandments of writing and daily creative routine
   
6. Kurt Vonnegut - Eight tips on how to write a great story
   

As you can see, all of them, except Ogilvy, are fiction writers. That’s one pointer to understand that all of these writers are saying things from a certain perspective. They are referring to a narrative style of writing, which involves a story, with characters in a setting, and wrestles with plots, themes, points of views and a horde of literary devices. Yet, there are two exceptions here:

• Pound’s piece (Checklist — Writers on Writing Process X - to be updated) is on different kinds of writers. This means, overall, we can apply their suggestions to any kind of writing, be it expository, descriptive, persuasive, or of course, narrative. This series is not necessarily about the tips on writing but includes the methods and approaches of writing as well. 
  
• Ogilvy’s tips are market-oriented, in the sense, he is referring to business/promotional writing. Yet, some of these are brilliant creative writing tips. Sample one of his tips: Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs. Nothing can go wrong with this. In deed, we can use not only Ogilvy’s trick but also all the six of them to improve our writing style.      

Recipe for Art?

Irrespective of the perspectives on which these writers have written the guidelines, we can mix and match their suggestions for different writing styles. In other words, we can pretty much use their tips and tricks to write blogs, essays, stories, articles, fiction, poetry, novels, and even research papers, reviews, cover letters, business letters, fan-fiction pieces, and what not. Here is a caveat though.

In the words of Steinbeck:

This implies, if Shakespeare had a list of things to do in writing, and we follow them religiously, it does not guarantee we will even become as half as good as him. Writing is such a subjective art. Consider this fact: the youngest Nobel Prize winner in science was Lawrence Bragg when he was in his 20s. (He was 25 to be precise and he won it in Physics). However, the youngest to get this coveted prize in literature, Rudyard Kipling and Albert Camus, were in their 40s. 

In normal circumstances, now and then, we hear about many child prodigies who clear masters and PhD exams when they just turn teens or are even younger in extraordinary instances. If you check it, it is always in mathematics or physics but never in design, or literature, or political science. 

Besides the subjective nature, there is no formula in liberal arts and there cannot be. Thus, there cannot be a recipe. So, elsewhere Steinbeck had added: ‘I know that no two people have the same methods. However, these mostly work for me.’

Conclusion: Are there writing conventions? Of course, yes. That’s how we make sense in and out of writing. Plus we can apply a few guidelines on writing from the masters. These are credible when a littérateurs share their views and give us a direction. What’s more, these are also proven strategies that they have used in their writings. But are there formulae that we can follow? Definitely, not.   

About the Writer

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) was a prolific writer. He penned 33 books and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature four years before his demise. He had also won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath (1939). Some of Steinbeck’s other finest works include Of Mice and Men (1937), East of Eden (1952), Travels with Charley (1962), and In Dubious Battle (1936). His novels are lauded for having a sense of place (also look up for a genre that incorporates a similar concept: regional novels), though his signature style is realism with proletarian themes.  

The first thing I always see when I hear Steinbeck’s name is Tom Joad rebelling as a working-class hero in rural American settings. Perhaps, along with The Grapes of Wrath, which is usually considered as Steinbeck’s masterpiece, Woodie Guthrie’s songs and RATM’s The Ghost of Tom Joad have conditioned my impression.

Checklist — Writers on Writing 1

‘I know that no two people have the same methods. However, these mostly work for me.’

Six Tips on Writing from John Steinbeck: A Concise Checklist

1. Abandon the idea of finishing your writing 
2. Write freely and rapidly 
3. Your audience is one single reader — forget the generalised audience 
4. If a scene gets the better of you, bypass it 
5. Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you 
6. When you are writing a dialogue, say it aloud

Read Books by John Steinbeck

• The Grapes of Wrath
• Of Mice and Men
• East of Eden
• Travels with Charley: In Search of America
  
• In Dubious Battle
  

(Check the titles to see the details on Amazon. The list contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy a book, we may earn a commission without any extra cost to you. It helps to keep this small blog afloat. Thanks for your support.)

PS: I will be updating the Checklists — Writers on Writing Process once or twice a week. So, please look forward to some brilliant ideas from some of the best minds in these coming days and weeks. 

Text on types, tips and techniques for each writer are sourced from Brain Pickings. Used without permission here under the Fair Use Doctrine (as permission could not be obtained). Also added: a few additional information in some places from other online sources that are referenced respectively. These are for learning and improving creative writing skills.

 Checklist — Writers on Writing Series:   John Steinbeck - Six tips on writing   David Ogilvy - 10 tips on writing   Ezra Pound - List of the six types of writers and two rules for forming an opinion   Jack Kerouac - List of 30 beliefs and techniques for prose and life   Henry Miller - 11 commandments of writing and daily creative routine   Kurt Vonnegut - Eight tips on how to write a great story