In their new book, husband-and-wife writers Anne Lamott and Neal Allen explore 36 "rules" to improve the craft of writing. "Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences" breaks down guidelines and suggestions for honing any type of writing — from a book to a post to a professional email.
Allen, who met Lamott a decade ago, is a former journalist and now a spiritual coach and author of "Better Days: Tame Your Inner Critic" and "Shapes of Truth: Discover God Inside You." Lamott is a bestselling author of more than 20 books, including the beloved "Bird by Bird," a guide to writing and life that was first published in 1994.
Lamott is seen as something of a cheerleader and coach, coaxing stories and words out of her readers and devotees "bird by bird," or one by one.
Writing a book about the rules of writing began with Allen, who throughout his career had collected criteria, steps and mindset tweaks to make writing stronger. Enter Lamott, who wanted to chime in on each rule, bolstering Allen's explanatory prose with her own interpretations, encouragement, sometimes defiance and often humor.
"And I'd written a book called ‘Bird by Bird’ 30 years ago, and I pointed out rather bitterly that I knew something about writing, too, and asked if I could contribute my own essays after each of his," Lamott said.
Lamott and Allen will discuss the book and their writing process at Balboa Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 1, presented by ArtPower.
Interview highlights
On the book as a conversation
Lamott: It's interesting because people have been asking us if there was conflict during the six months or a year or whatever it was of us writing this book. But Neil had done all the heavy lifting by the time I came in.
He had found the structure, written about each of the rules. I added to it. Mine were: write the hard stuff, you know, write about real stuff, write about compassion and loss and survival and families. And the second rule was take out the boring stuff. And so when I came along, it was really in place, and so I don't think we really knew that it was a conversation at first.
It was a little bit more hurky-jerky than that, that Neil had these very teacherly but very welcoming essays or meditations on these rules, and then I, with a little bit of, you know, a smart-aleck, came along and wrote, "Oh, I disagree with Neil, and he's overeducated, so I would ignore this rule altogether." And here's what I would recommend.
And then little by little, it just started to be a lot more playful and a lot more reacting to each other's work, and it got to be a real flow. And I think you'll see that in the book, that there's a real sense of an ongoing conversation about writing.
On continuing Lamott's coaching style from "Bird by Bird"
Lamott: I absolutely do think it's a continuation, and it's the same message. You know, it's like me as the sweet flight attendant that can see see you're nervous about flying, and I can come in and tell you that I think your voice is really important and I think it's really important for you and your soul that you get your memories down on paper, you get your stories told, and that maybe they turn into a memoir, maybe they turn into a novel or screenplay. Maybe you just want to be better at writing emails to your boss or writing grant proposals, but in any case Neal tells you how you can really best and most succinctly, and with flair, accomplish that. And then I come in and I say, "No, no, don't give up. It's really good, and we can help you make it better."
On balancing structure and creative freedom
Allen: We use the word rules because there isn't kind of a word that is between rule and tip. Tip isn't quite enough, and rule is a little too much. The way I think about it is that if I've got a grammatical sentence, then as a writer who defaults to writing for whom the subject matter is tertiary, the sentence is primary. I'm going to look at that sentence and go, “Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. What can I do with this? This has so much potential. It's already got a subject, an object, a verb. It's already got a plot device in it. Everything's all sitting there, and now it's got a potential to be more. And that's what these rules do — they give me hints at how to make more out of the sentence and fulfill the sentence's potential.
Now that that sentence can go in all different kinds of ways and might use this rule or that rule or another rule or whatever. You can take a simple declarative sentence and add a metaphor at the end, right? You can do all sorts of things with sentences. That's what this book is about.
On the rule 'Knock three times'
Lamott: It has to do with with a rhythm and flow of a sentence, and usually, typically, Neil insists that the correct way to do it is to have three examples or three adjectives, three descriptors. And I often use two partly because it stops you a little bit in your tracks. But I'm going to let Neil answer this.
Allen: It's interesting what Annie's saying. Most people write with threes. So, the good, the bad and the ugly. “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” I, me, mine. And the idea here is it's musical. It's like a musical pattern. If I say "da da, da da," it sounds unresolved compared to "da da, da da, da da."
I almost can't say the third "da da" without emphasizing it and bringing it to resolution. And that's a cultural thing, right? There are cultures that think in twos. But it was something when Annie and I first, 10 years, ago started passing pages back and forth between each other, I noticed immediately that she thinks and writes in twos. And I also know that I'm not going to touch her voice. Her voice always gets to win in her writing. And I learned to get used to it and how powerful it is for her because it's unusual. It leaves people kind of open at the end, unresolved at the end.
On the rule 'Break the rules'
Lamott: I've been teaching these workshops pretty much based on "Bird by Bird" for 30 some years now. And I've always told my students you can do anything you can get away with. You can break every rule in the book if you get a way with it, if it remains pleasing to or enticing to the reader.
A lot of good writing has to do with the absolute need to have somebody help you read your work, edit your work, give you feedback on your work. So that if you try something that is maybe, quote, unquote, "breaking the rules," and the person who's reading your work for you loves it, great. If the person reading for you says, "You know what? This so threw me because I was with you all along, and then all of a sudden I didn't know where it was going, and I stopped" — and you lose the flow? It's been famously said that a confused reader is an antagonistic reader. So if you're trying something and breaking the rules and thinking that you're so avant-garde, but you've lost the reader, what you've got to really consider is going back to the rules.
On lessons for writing and life
Writing can give you a new appreciation and a new benevolent kick in the butt to get more curious about the world, to pay more attention, to become more aware — that is what I hope that this book will also provide.Anne Lamott, writer
Lamott: Well, you know, I am always sort of sneakily shoehorning stuff in everywhere I go that I think will be comforting or helpful or encouraging. A lot of what applies to writing — and a lot of what we write about in "Good Writing" — really does have to do with your life and writing and living in a way that is more curious about life and that is more in a state of wonder instead of explaining what you're seeing. And trying one of the rules is about the sensory world and how wonderful it is as a reader for a writer to tell you not just what they saw, but what it sounded like, and what the aromas were, and what the fabric felt like between their fingers.
And that sense that writing can give you a new appreciation and a new benevolent kick in the butt to get more curious about the world, to pay more attention, to become more aware — that is what I hope that this book will also provide, along with ways of becoming a better writer.
Allen: And I think what we yearn for in modern life is a return to some kind of intimacy with the world, with our friends, with people, that isn't filtered through judgment. And writing is a really handy, simple way into being intimate and close and connected to the things right around you.
