Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing

While Chapter 1 functions as an emergency first-aid clinic, the next two chapters dive into writing as craft. In Chapter 2, “Thinking Well,” Trimble describes what make all great writers great: critical thinking skills. Like the grandmaster chess player, talented writers can intellectually guide their readers, always staying one move ahead. While most other writing books ruminate on the mechanics of writing—namely, grammar—Trimble sets Writing with Style apart by focusing in on the mechanics of good thinking: “My chief aim,” he writes, “both in this chapter and throughout the book, is to help you develop what we might call ‘writer’s sense’” (14).

Trimble differentiates between the unconscious writer and the conscious writer. Novice writers are often unconscious writers. Namely, Trimble argues, they write for themselves alone, forgetting that a reader will eventually have to decipher what it is they’re saying. The unconscious writer “thinks through an idea only until it’s passably clear to him,” which leaves the reader to deal with the gaps in logic, unclear transitions, and vague conclusions (15). In this sense, unconscious writers are childlike, unaware of their readers’ needs: “I have come to the conclusion that the majority of writing problems I encounter in student papers should not be considered problems so much as symptoms,” Trimble says. “I reached this conclusion after observing how miraculously most of them disappeared after one genuine problem had been treated: a failure to think well” (13).

A conscious writer, on the other hand, is an extremely clear communicator “who companionably faces his listener and tries his level best to communicate with him, hopefully even persuade and charm him in the process, and who eventually bids him a genial, courteous farewell” (15). Experienced, professional authors are conscious writers because they translate their critical thinking skills into decipherable prose. All great authors write to serve their reader, not themselves.

According to Trimble, readers require the following to have their needs fulfilled: clear phrasing and clear thoughts; no extra language—get to the point; anticipate the reader’s questions; engaging and humorous writing; an author that communicates in a friendly way rather than in a condescending tone.

The conscious writer not only needs to communicate clearly, but they also need to persuade. Trimble advises four essentials of persuasion:

1. Have something to say that’s really worth one’s attention.

2. Be sold on its validity and importance so that you can sell it with conviction.

3. Furnish strong arguments and support them with concrete proof.

4. Use language that sells—vigorous verbs, strong nouns, and confident, assertive phrasing (17).

Clarity comes first for Trimble, an “indispensable characteristic of good prose” (20). He goes on to explain: “A prose style may be eloquent, lyrical, witty, rhythmical, and fresh as Montana’s air, but if it lacks clarity, few readers will stay with it for long” (19). Trimble’s advice to write with clarity departs from the broad belief, particularly among undergraduate students, that academic writing need be stuffy and aloof. Instead, clear writing is appreciated by every reader in every venue, whether that be an academic essay, a journal article, an email, or a letter.

But writing clearly is easier said than done. In fact, conveying one’s thoughts clearly is an exceptionally hard task, particularly because the brain does not naturally organize thoughts in a sequential way. Forming clear sentences and paragraphs that are linked successively goes against the brain’s first impulse. Trimble pushes the writer to edit and re-edit. He says that conscious writers are able to envision their reader—or many readers—and determine which parts of the writing will confuse them most. In the editing process, conscious writers are able to narrow in on those prickly sections and smooth them out.

Trimble suggests that authors write paragraphs that are neither too short, nor too long. There are the “whale-like paragraphs that left [the reader] sinking under their weight” or the “mini-paragraphs that had [the reader’s] eye bouncing crazily down the page” (23). Although Trimble does not provide an exact length, most writers aim for paragraphs that are at least four sentences. However, advanced writers will use short, one-to-two sentence paragraphs when they want their words to make a strong impact. The same holds true for individual sentences: when the author’s thoughts are not coming across clearly, start by shortening the sentences, and then turn to the paragraphs.

After discussing the art of translating strong thinking into clear writing, Trimble turns to the topic of critical analysis. He argues that critical analysis is not a summary of plot, two different things that undergraduate authors often conflate. He explains that a plot summary is the equivalent of an author writing about the “highlights of the Vietnam War.” Critical analysis, by contrast, would be “an explanation of how the United States happened to get into it, and why we stayed” (25). Plot summary provides a factual review, while critical analysis offers an original argument. The best writers, and the best essays, provide both plot summary and critical analysis. To develop your own critical analysis on a topic or piece of writing, he suggests, “get in the habit of thinking in terms of how and why questions” (27). For essay writers taking college literature courses, Trimble suggests reading Sylvan Barnet’s A Short Guide to Writing About Literature and Edgar Robert’s Writing Themes About Literature.