Something Happens

When people ask me what kind of writing I like to read, I always have the same answer: good. So what makes writing good? It's interesting. What constitutes interesting writing? It's not boring.

Suffice it to say that I'm kind of a dick when it comes to this question. But I have been trying to put my finger on what I really look for. Ultimately, there is one principle I have found that links all the things I like: something happens.

'Something happens' is also pretty vague, but it's the only way to encapsulate the principle. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays, and any other kind of writing all need to have something happen. It can be a conversation, a fight, a walk, a halt, or a realization. A simple recitation of facts is just not good enough. To use an example from the past, the writing I hate more than anything else is when a novel spends two pages describing a room or a person's clothing. Nothing is happening during those pages. Imagine if you were watching a movie, you see the main character burst into a room, and then spend 30 seconds standing still, looking at the various objects on the walls. It would be total garbage and you wouldn't stand for it. I don't stand for it in writing of any kind.

This rule is especially important for serial work. If you are writing a comic strip, for example, you need to make sure that something happens in every installment. It can be any of the examples I mentioned earlier, but the important thing is that at the end of it, the state of things are different than they were in the previous strip.