I’ve written a bit recently about the subjective aspect of writing (see How to find writerly mojo, A way to write)—a few friends have questioned why I seem to be downplaying the technical side of things.
One of the reasons I’ve written less about technical specifics of writing has to do with the amount of attention already paid to that side of things (…or maybe I just hang out with more linguists than most). It’s a fair point though, and it got me wondering how I see writing from a more holistic standpoint. How can we think about the the different parts of its ‘make up’?
The diagram below is an attempt at laying out two facets of writing I think about a lot. The horizontal axis is a typology that distinguishes between a focus on the writer (the subjective side of things) and a focus on the writing (the technical side of things).
The vertical axis can help us to see different ways of placing subjectivity and technicality—the top side of the plane has to do with more generalised versions of these concepts, while the bottom side of the plane is a prompt to think about their concrete counterparts.
One way to use this tool might be as something of a diagnostic reflective device—for example, thinking about these dimensions might help us to see if we’re trying to solve an identity problem with vocabulary.
These ideas owe a fair bit to my exposure to LCT—you can check that out here.