: Re: How do I improve my "impact" in writing? I don't know the exact word for it, but I hope I make it clear what I mean by "impact" soon. My favorite pieces of writing are Rosa Luxemburg's

@Kristi637

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I think a lot of us have been damaged by the myth of inborn talent. When I've looked deeply into the biographies of the artists I've most admired, they've spent years working hard on the parts of their craft that seem most effortless. As an example, one of my favorite songwriters, Paul Simon, spent three straight years writing a new song every night, because he was trying to write something as poetic as Bob Dylan's work. And that was after Simon had already written a hit song.

In terms of the specifics, detail is not a strength of mine, so I've studied it a lot. The key, I think, is that descriptive prose needs to work double or triple duty. It not only needs to give you a vivid sensual appreciation of the actual physicality of the thing being described, it also needs to put you in the mind and the mood of the person describing it. It needs to have an emotional quality, and maybe even a moral or spiritual one. It may also need to (subtly) symbolize or reflect the larger themes of the work, or the aims of the particular scene.

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