I’ve seen a few comments on social media in the past few weeks concerning writing and what makes a good writer and good written copy. Most of what I’ve read is very general in content, and ranges from the A to Z of the instruction on good writing. I can’t comment on all of that, it would take too much time and space on this website, but I do want to comment on one small phase of writing and writing instruction. A few commentators have asked, “What are ‘tools’ in writing? What are the ‘tools’ that a writer has?” Writing courses sometimes state that when a novice writer finishes the course, he/she will have the “tools” needed to write better/short stories/fiction/poetry/non-fiction/advertising copy, etc., etc., etc. But what are these “tools?” Do the instructors of these courses pass out physical objects? I’ve always thought of a tool as something you can hold in your hand, like a hammer or screwdriver or beer can opener. Other than a pen or pencil, writers don’t hold much in their hands. Is, then, a pen or pencil a tool for writing? In a manner of speaking, I believe it is, but somehow I don’t think the purveyors of “tools” for writing are talking about pens or pencils. Tools for writing are much more ethereal.
As I frequently do, I started this posting by looking up “tool” in the dictionary. Oddly, the definition of “tool” was much broader than I’d imagined. A tool can, of course, be a hammer and all that, but it can also be competence in the performance of a duty, or natural ability, or a means to an end. A hammer is a means to an end because a hammer by itself is merely an inert object. A hammer has to be used to be a tool. The hammer is the means by which a nail is pounded into two or more boards to join them together. But with that simple, unadorned hammer, one can build an entire house. Of course, more than a hammer is required to build a house, and in a similar manner, many tools are required to build a novel or construct a poem.
So, what are the tools a writer uses to build a novel, or construct that poem? Here the commentary gets a little more vague. Writers are told, “show, don’t tell”; “don’t use so many adverbs”; “never use any word other than ‘said’ to show attribution”; “read in your genre and even out of it”; “attend meetings”; “submit, submit, submit”; “read like a writer,” and so on and so forth. But are these “tools”?
I maintain these are, in fact, properly called the tools of the writer. I like to think of them more as suggestions rather than rigid requirements, and many—if not most—can be broken occasionally in the service of good writing. “Telling,” for example, is sometimes appropriate. As someone who started writing several years ago, I began a science fiction novel without any of those tools. I didn’t have the faintest idea what I was doing. And my writing was atrocious. I had to learn the rules (“suggestions”) of writing as I continued to write. I read, attended meetings, talked to others, joined writers groups, and did all that a beginning writer is supposed to do just to learn to write. I believe now I can put together a short story or novel much more competently than I did twenty years ago because of all that learning. I now possess many of the appropriate tools for writing. Yes, there are tools in writing, even though they don’t have the solid feel of a hammer in the hand. And while, “show, don’t tell,” won’t pound a nail into a board, it does allow me to do a better job with my writing.