Why is writing so tough? Because....“All good writing is a contest with the inexpressible.”

The quote comes from Richard Todd, co-author with Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy Kidder of Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction. Todd has been Kidder’s editor for decades, since Kidder started at The Atlantic. Todd and Kidder appeared at a writing conference at Boston University.

Kidder maintained that the writing contest requires two kinds of rewriting. The first demands fixing what you wrote in the first draft, because you were on the right track. The second requires throwing away what you wrote so you can “rewrite from principle.” That is, you have to start over on the right track.

Writing as a contest—it casts a different light on the book-writing process. Writers have to compete with themselves to say things that, at some point, they can’t find words to say at all.

Viewed as a contest, you can see each edit as advancing a new round in the playoffs. Your “inexpressible” opponent gets tougher with each edit. Yet have to break through your opponent’s forces of ineffability to score. And score enough to win.

Kidder was asked if he gets outside readers to comment on drafts (besides Todd, his editor). Kidder said, “It’s best to have just one set of eyes, or at most two”—at least “for the first ten drafts.” He believes too many reviewers sow confusion.

“All books are imperfect,” Todd reminded listeners. He and Kidder do a final “read-aloud” to catch imperfections. But no matter their meticulousness, every book can be better. The writer, alas, can never quite win every game.

[Revised January 2020. Originally published April 12, 2013]