On Writing: Is Quality or Quantity Better?

Sitting at my laptop and discovering a sense of my desire and passion as a writer. This is a desire that is a lot like a romance set into motion. The days of waiting to retire to write the “great American novel” has now passed into a passé romantic notion of writers who made their marks in the 20th century. When writing, the writer enters into monotone details of the minutiae of how words fit together with the idea of a craftsman joining wood together to create cabinets. Not just any woods, but the correct grades of wood, matching degrees of hues and density and the flow of the grain and the story it tries to tell from the individual trees.

This of course is merely subjective and escapist when we look at the craft and what it is we hope to project in how we interpret a point of view.  Yes, the quest for the written word and the subsequent chase to complete the idea of the mind; the ethereal wisp that clouds and clutters the mind, but begins to clear away in favor of day to day thoughts and conversations. This, is the challenge of the writer, in interpreting this dynamic. As we move further into this century, we have found that it is significantly easier for a writer to produce more content on a regular basis depending on their desire, but is this necessary?

Is it truly needed for a writer to keep writing, and publishing, to stay enjoyed and relevant? The question comes now due to the rapid-fire accessibility that the reading population has to the internet. What is in favor now, can indeed quickly fall from favor in the fashionable cascade of hot or not. But the challenge of quantity versus quality still rages forward as a person sits down to decide what they wish to write. The instrument of discernment is harder at work than ever with the modern writer, but often times not practically applied. Most modern writers use the method of publishing on the internet to quickly hash out their emotions and opinions, but never to distribute news or anything of value or worth. The use of the “blog” as a bully pulpit to moralize or chastise a person unfortunately has cheapened the art of the writer. True, I often say never attack a person who can write a sentence, but in the methods employed of derisive attacks, well that’s just not writing.

On the side of quantity, this is the laborer’s art. There are some who value the free flowing of emoting their greatest triumphs and deepest pains for those willing to see. These are the literary exhibitionists; nuded and ready for the viewers consumption. They have no qualms of errors or of misplaced wording or phrases, they are unfettered and free willed to create writings. But the question then comes that if you achieve commercial viability, will you have staying power to endure? There have been fine examples of the laboring writer that have passed before and into time, but are they memorialized? If the goal of the writer is to write for the sake of writing, then this person is not absorbed with generating a legacy of literature, but with generating literature. They write for the sake of getting the job done at hand, either that be to make a deadline with a newspaper or magazine or to report on a fashion blog. This is the business end of the writer’s existence: the bread maker. The public will rarely memorialize the written works of a magazine columnist, as it is written to be consumed at the moment at hand. People such as Henry Miller and Ernest Hemingway made their ways as journalists, writing what they saw and leaving the judgment to the reader. Not notable writings, but functional to get the job done

On the side of quality, this is the craftsman’s art.

This is the decision that good enough just isn’t and that the time to take to produce a quality product can indeed be measured in the fleeting hours, days, weeks and oft times, years that it will take to create such a product. This artist is driven by an obsession. This obsession, the nagging will that they will produce something that would and can be judged sub-standard in their eye and in others, is the directive that they measure themselves by. This skill set is beset by the pressures of measuring up to contemporaries and rivals. This is the focus of work that the writer feels is the creator of their legacy’s namesake. This observation to the writer to produce something of a memorable and notable stock, is reflected by the groaning quantity of reference materials on their bookshelves; the purpose of which to find the right fitting word to convey a simple phrase to something iridescent. The danger of creating such work, is that no work will get done on a deadline. If you subject yourself to the demands of the 21st century writer’s world, the pressure to produce caliber writing for articles and features can and often is undermining in the writer’s confidence and poise.

So what does a writer do in such a bind?

From what many modern writers do, they look at what needs to be done and what they would like to do. Some writers, having been established in the literary world for a period of time, find that crafting does come easier for them due to the initial foundation they created. The writer Walter Mosley published in O magazine an excerpt from his book, This Year You Write Your Novel to show inhibited writers the steps to take on the mother of all writing assignments: the novel. In his establishment of timing and the time to write, it allows you the time to sit down and take the time to create the piece of quality work during that time. In my case, working on a book of poetry tends to be moved to a time where I am calmer in my thoughts and not stressed to produce for payment. In writing articles, I use a standard 4-6 hour day where I will either research an article, gather information and then produce the product for publication. Sometimes, the article comes together easily, but the artist who wants to create can edit and at times delay it from

So where do we stand on this debate?

The realities of producing well-written works on every foray of the writing life is indeed a challenge. Just as if the angler doesn’t always catch a big fish or even catch any at all, this is the reality. Write what you know, that is for certain, but save the time and know what you are writing for. If you’re looking to get the publication needed for paying the bills, know what the audience requires. It is a buyer/seller market and you need to be versed in what is good to sell. In the time to create a quality piece of work, a writer could easily use the other hours of the day to produce material to keep their way of life funded. Not everyone can afford to buy the original Venus de Milo, but they can buy postcards, tee-shirts and magnets with her image on them. It is the writer’s duty to recognize this fact and produce accordingly so that they are not wrestling with the odds of is this good enough or not. Let your art speak for you by spending less time talking to it.

Originally Displayed at Associated Content