I’ve talked about how writing is like baking previously. The analogy suffices. A writer adds ingredients to create something worth consuming.
At least, the writer hopes to offer a pleasant concoction. Not all ingredients support the longed-for dish. Some war with each other, a clash that either blesses or curses the senses. Other times, the battle results in a victor: an element, perhaps passive voice or similes, barrages the rest so successfully that it’s all the reader hears and sees.
A better writer, though, watches the ingredients. She measures and pinches so that the elements build toward a complete draft rather than tear it down. The writer practices exactitude and becomes aware of her tendencies to use too much salt, cinnamon, or some other ingredient. She examines the ingredients, too, assessing the flour for weevils and the sugar for lumps.
The better writer also acts as a chef. She pairs different ingredients to test effects. She may begin with a recipe for a basic tiramisu, but she transforms it in the process of making it. Although the dessert calls for a teaspoon of one thing or another, she knows that half a teaspoon less or more will produce the desired effect.
She also combines new, quality ingredients with known ones. The writer tastes an unfamiliar spice and thinks, “This could work well with cardamom and saffron.” A neighboring chef shares a bottle of exotic mulled wine with here. She visits Fred at the fish market, Marie at the local farmer’s market. New ingredients swirl on her palate and in her head, and they come home with her, ready to be folded into into a recipe or used as a complement with a particular menu.
She tastes the results. Sometimes, they delight the tongue. Other times, they sour it. She doesn’t give up, though. No, she saves the ingredients because they will serve a purpose at some point.
She does the work of the better writer, and that role calls for circumspection. No ingredient is unequivocally good or bad. The application of it makes the difference, and, because it does, she chooses, measures, and pairs her quality ingredients carefully.
Image: Death to the Stock Photo