Annie Dillard's Advice for Writers

I found myself circling and underlining a lot of Dillard's advice because it was affirmation of tips I had heard or read before or things that seemed relevant to my writing. While I don't plan to exactly follow her first piece of advice to "live at least a year in very different parts of the country," (XII) I love to travel and recently realized what a great resource it can be for writing. Writing about things, people, events, etc. in a foreign country is exciting, but getting out of your comfort zone can also be a great excuse to write. I always bring paper and pens with me on trips because it is the time I am most relaxed and inspired to write.

The majority of Annie Dillard's advice did come off as blunt and honest, but it didn't discourage me from writing. I looked at her tips as suggestions to improve my writing, not as advice to give up. I was especially pleased by her comment to "Write books you'd like to read. Follow your own weirdness," (XII). Right now I enjoy reading Young Adult literature and I have written stories and plays that fit into that category, but as I get older I might find that a different genre appeals to me and I don't want to get stuck writing the same thing over and over. Just within the last few years I have come to embrace my weirdness and so I appreciated Dillard acknowledging that we are all a little weird and that we should just go with it.

Even though many of her tips were "the basics" and things I already knew about writing, Dillard wrote in a light, conversational tone. She wasn't sugarcoating anything, but was very direct, like it seems she would be when critiquing a friend's work. She didn't spend more time than was necessary on any one tip, following her own advice of not using any extra words (XIV). I felt that she respected me and my knowledge as a reader because she didn't talk down to me or act like these were things I should already know and excel at. She also knows how quickly the reader can get bored, so she broke the article down into readable chunks.

The thing that stood out to me the most was her advice about "no dull dialogue" (XIV). I am a huge fan of dialogue and try to keep it fresh and realistic, but often my over-use of dialogue results in a lack of description of setting and feelings and senses. "Capturing the typical isn't a virtue," (XIV) was helpful too because as a child I often wondered why stories were never about everyday life and as I got older I realized that would be boring to read. Something exciting or tragic or important has to happen; some kind of change must occur. Writing about the annoying things in life only works if you are a comedian, otherwise it is just a long list of whining and complaining.

Members of the literature world often talk about characters and books as if they are living things that make their own decisions and the truth is, a good character or book will dictate its own future. Dillard acknowledges that "Over and over you must choose the book over your own wishes and feelings" (XV). It is an odd phenomenon that an author can't just have a character say or do whatever they want, they have to stay true to what the character would actually say or do, but the authors that work toward the overall "unity" and truthfulness of a novel are often the most successful in my opinion.

I was surprised when Dillard told us that nonfiction is such a popular area of literature. As she suggested, I do have a list of books I want to read, some new and some classics, and I do hope I will have time after college. In terms of publishing, her advice was disheartening; a famous person with mediocre ideas is more likely to get published than a non-famous person with great writing. Though the publishing world is hard to enter, reading this only made me want to try harder. I want to be one of those rare novels that makes it. I still have a lot to learn, but with advice from pros like Annie Dillard, I feel I have a better chance.

-Katie Huffman