Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Letters from Garcia: Part 3 : Scholarly Writing as Craft

Letters from Garcia: Part 3 : Scholarly Writing as Craft: A couple of years ago I asked a very productive colleague whether he considered himself a writer. Without hesitation he said, "yes". I asked...

Part 3 : Scholarly Writing as Craft

A couple of years ago I asked a very productive colleague whether he considered himself a writer. Without hesitation he said, "yes". I asked that same question to a Chicano scholar with the same amount of books and probably a better scholarly reputation, and his response was also without hesitation: "No".  Interesting, no?

Scholars are writers--when they write. And they usually don't publish or produce books if they are not. Accepting our role as writers is fundamental to being able to produce books and do it more than once. Writing is a craft, pure and simple, not some God-given ability limited to a lucky few. No, I don't mean that everyone is a Sandra Cisneros, Charles Dickens, Octavio Paz, Isabelle Allende or James Patterson, but each writing genre has its own levels of competency--and yes talent level--and for the most part they are accessible to those who make the effort to write well.

Since writing is a craft most writing rules apply across all writing genres which means that we learn to write by learning the rules of the craft and the techniques that have evolved over time. My shelves are full of writing books just as they are with books on how to do research, historiography, as well as scholarly books on many topics.

I read a lot, but not only in my specific field or even my discipline. I find that when I read science, sociology, anthropology, fiction, drama, poetry and scripture my concept of writing is enlarged. Everyone of my books has been influenced by a work outside my field because everyone of the authors was working at the same craft that I do. Sometimes I discover that "new techniques" in my field are ages old in another, and as such much more developed.

I find that fiction writers and essayists are the ones that put the most effort into their writing. So from them we learn the most about technique. Scholars tend to dismiss technique and so much of our writing is bland and in fact over the last century we scholars have developed the notion that the more inaccessible our scholarly books are the better they are. Its as if we decided that the fewer the people reading our work, the greater our academic glory.

If you don't know about flashbacks, setting, scene, characterization, summary, description...you know little about the craft. Now, these things won't make you a great academic writer, but without them you won't even be a good one. To them you add good research, good analysis, valuable feedback and expertise that often comes with time. But the latter are lost if you don't have the tools to put them into paper or on a computer screen.

Good scholarly writers use most of these techniques even when they don't know they are using them. Some people have the knack for developing some of these techniques without studying them by simply writng and reading. But it takes longer to "discover" them than it is to learn them.  Of course, craft requires practice and that means writing, writing and more writing.

One thing I learned from reading the biographers Milton Lomask and Barbara Tuchman is that you start writing as soon as you have some idea or have some research done. You don't do what most academicians do and that is wait "until the research is done". Writing helps develop ideas, reveals the blackholes in your research, and pretty much tells you if your project is doable. You can always correct as you learn more. Even if everything you wrote is wrong you will find that writing about your topic makes you more passionate about it and helps you feel closer to it.

For every project I write, I usually have two or three notebooks or folders of writing that rarely get into the final product. I also discuss my ideas, research, individuals, etc. in my journal. Scholarly writers should not go through life without a journal, even if its only to make sure your biographer has something to write about when you get famous. Write early in the morning, while on a break from family, during commercial breaks, and before everyone else wakes up. Develop a system that works for you and periodically upgrade it. Find a writing spot and when that gets old find a new one. Most important look closely at your work to see if you have some of the elements of writing that make your manuscript easier to read.

If you know setting, you will be able to place your work in the appropiate time and space. If you know characterization, you will be able to write better about people. If you know summary, you'll be able to get through those long parts that are simply not as exciting but quite necessary, and if you know flashback you will be able to expand your story across time without having to follow an A-Z narrative form exclusively.

Treating writing as a craft helps you to write what you are capable of writing, no less and no more. It won't make you a Pulitzer prize winner unless you have the talent and circumstances but it will make you a good scholarly writer who is capable of writing the books that are in you. It helps you when you fall into those trouble spots, when writer's block descends on you, and when you don't have the foggiest idea of why things are not flowing the way they should. Knowing the craft is knowing how to do what you most want to do.

I will stop here because its getting too long. But I will have a final note on this topic in a couple of days.