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I have been asked by a small number of readers when I intend to release an article on “rules for writers” I vaguely mentioned several weeks ago. I have an answer.
My next post, which will show up here a few days hence, will be another Q & A installment. I have been letting a backlog of questions accumulate, and I apologize for my tardiness in answering many of them.
Then, however, I shall post the promised essay in two parts. I apologize in advance for the presumptuousness of the thing. It is really simply an expression my own philosophy of what constitutes good prose and of how one should go about writing it. I considered giving it a title along the lines of “Deep Purple,” but ultimately decided that “On Writing” would suffice.
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Without gushing too overtly, I would say that your writing has been singular in motivating me personally to take up the quill again after many, many years of being told that my own writing style and ear for prose was too “bombastic” or “sensational” or “verbose” (this from my professors and writing teachers): “too purple” as it were, and I distinctly remember opening Atheist Delusions for the first time (which I read in a day, and have annually ever since) and being overcome by the gravity and force of your words and your uncompromising dedication to expanding and amplifying the breadth of English prose both intellectually and stylistically and I remember feeling so relieved and inspired that finally I had found a philosopher who wasn’t just poignant and insightful, but who was first and foremost a true stylist. I was so moved by your writing that it forced me to reconsider my own intellectual trajectory and purpose, that I’d been trying to become a philosopher someday when I should have focused on being the writer I already was. All this is an argument for your Deep Purple title (I think Stephen King’s book is called On Writing) because I’ve been utterly convinced by your “more is more” argument. Thanks again, your work has been profoundly impactful.
Here’s hoping your disquisition will be more discerning and instructive than Stephen King’s “On Writing,” lol.