Writing is a Tense Transaction with Readers

Some writers write, read, revise, reread, go for a run, come back and write, and repeat. Others just shoot it out on the page, then revise. It depends on the writer. Yet all writers are giving words to their readers like I’m doing for you now.

You get it.

The process of rendering words on a page for you, dear reader, is done a little differently by each writer. As William Zinsser, author of On Writing Well, puts it:

    “Some people write by day, others by night. Some people need silence, others turn on the radio. Some write by hand, some by computer, some by talking into a tape recorder. Some people write their first draft in one long burst and then revise; others can’t write the second paragraph until they have fiddled endlessly with the first.”

Though there are many different ways to write, we’re all — as writers — ultimately trying to accomplish the same thing: a fair transaction with readers.

So let me give you something good to read, and we’ll make a fair trade, dear reader.

The Transaction

William Zinsser describes writing as a transaction between the writer and the reader. The writer works to create content and to commit it to the page for the reader. This process can be messy and painstaking, and its purpose is to sift through a “stiffness of self” to make the content palatable for the reader.

This is what Zinsser says about the writer’s and their process:

    “But all of them are vulnerable and all of them are tense. They are driven by a compulsion to put some part of themselves on paper, and yet they don’t just write what comes naturally. They sit down to commit an act of literature, and the self who emerges on paper is far stiffer than the person who sat down to write. The problem is to find the real man or woman behind the tension.”

By addressing the problem and finding “the real man or woman behind the tension,” the writer’s work is made desirable to the reader, who can “feel” the liveliness of the words removed from that tension.

This tension, I think, comes from the disconnect between the spoken and written word. Let me explain.

Speaking is a more natural process, sounding less contrived in conversation, which is inherently repetitive and redundant and reiterative. The speaker benefits from being able to say the same thing in a variety of ways. Verbal expression is also assisted by physical gestures in real-time.

When words bypass the mouth and are put to the page, into the permanent structures of sentence and paragraph, something is sometimes lost in translation.

The less natural process of writing might come from the writer — initially — as a rigid and contrived attempt to explain something on their minds. The writer’s thoughts, once rendered on the page, may then come across to the reader as “tense,” and therefore unreadable.

I can’t say that this problem is entirely true for every writer. It isn’t always for me, though I must frequently rewrite and edit — don’t get me wrong.

But I’m quite relaxed when I write, and whatever tension I feel usually melts away as my words materialize. It’s even possible that a “truer” self is reflected in the written word — it’s a more thoughtful one, at least.

So whatever comes across — and I hope its something relaxed and removed from the rigidity of my tension — I’m committed to making a fair transaction with you.

A Fair Trade is Made

The writer is seeking to get a message across to the reader and to maintain their interest. It’s giving you a reason to continue reading through.

But more than that, it’s giving you useful or interesting information that you want to keep reading. For example, I hope I’m conveying accurately the idea that writing is a transaction between you, the dear reader, and me, the writer.

If I’m correctly doing what I intended, then I’m giving you something to think about. If you stopped reading already, then this sentence wouldn’t matter to you anyway. But if you are still reading, then perhaps I’ve imparted something for you to think about so far.

When you stop reading, and you take that something away with you, our transaction is complete. Good doing business with you.

Maybe you’re asking yourself, “Is writing just a transaction?” You may think that it isn’t, or that it is, or that it is to an extent — just having thoughts about it is what I want for you, in this case…

Because, in any case, the writer’s work is a trade that is made with the reader.

I hope I’ve presented a characterization of the writing process that you can get on board with — or completely abandon. That’s the beauty of the reader’s choice.

That’s part of the transaction between us.

I strive to write in such a way that interests the reader — all writers do, of course. If I’ve entertained or informed at all, then I consider that a successful transaction. And if I’ve managed to make the reader laugh out loud or to share some contents of this article with another person, even better.

Yet I consider the transaction fair only if it was something worthy of your precious time. Otherwise, sorry.

Final Transaction

It’s the writer’s duty to impart something deep, entertaining, or useful to the reader — that’s you, again.

The content of a writer’s work is the culmination of time and energy spent on curating it. By providing this content to the reader — free of tension — a transaction has taken place and, depending on the purpose, intent, or interpretation by the parties involved (the reader and writer), the writer will be either satisfied or sad, less tense than before, or even more.

It’s up to the reader to decide the rest.

https://writingcooperative.com/writing-is-a-tense-transaction-with-readers-d4b71f390623