On Writing, Part One

Ideals and Exemplars

[I am posting this essay in two parts; the second will appear a week hence. I almost did not write it because the essayist Ed Simon ended his book Binding the Ghost with a chapter devoted to the same topic, in which he drew on many of the same sources I had been intending to cite and made many of the same points I had been intending to make. When I complained bitterly of this to him, accusing him of nocturnal raids upon my inner thoughts by means either telepathic or occult, he encouraged me to go ahead and write my essay anyway. So I must thank him here for restoring my resolve.

This part of the essay, as you will see below, is divided into two sections: the first is called “Ideals,” the second “Exemplars.” The remainder of the essay, section three, will be called “Rules,” and will contain 33 maxims that express my philosophy of writing and my advice on how it ought to be done.

The entire article will also appear in the Christmas issue of The Lamp.]