What Makes Good Writing?

How Do You Write? What makes “good” writing? A question often asked by English professors at different levels of education. Instructors often wonder whether anyone can really be taught how to write; and why their students do not know how to write at a certain level. To begin to understand what makes writing and writers “good,” we need to ask the larger question: What is writing? It’s easy to agree on the definition of writing if we limit it to something like putting pen to paper or typing ideas onto a computer. But if we look more closely at the elements of the act of writing, the definition comes to life. For me, I believe that the characteristics of good writing consists of having characterization, being able to set the right tone, illustrating
Tone is one of those things, along with the author’s voice, that can be difficult for us get our heads around, since to some extent it just happens. Tone is a literary compound of composition in which encompasses the attitude of the story towards the reader and audience. It may be formal, informal, intimate, somber, or many other possible attitudes. I think of tone as sort of like a flavor. The reader will get a spoonful of sweet, salty, or mixture of everything. One good example that sets the tone for me comes from the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, when the jury comes back from deliberation on their verdict of Tom Robinson. “A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted, and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson. The foreman handed a piece of paper to Mr. Tate who handed it to the clerk who handed it to the judge…I shut my eyes. Judge Taylor was polling the jury: ‘Guilty… guilty… guilty… guilty…’” (Lee, 215). Right from the beginning and throughout this quote, author Harper Lee illustrates the tone and mood of the story. Not one member of the jury looked at the defendant, Tom Robinson, setting the tone to a somber state. The reader then gets a sense that something unlucky is about to happen to the defendant. With each “guilty” verdict, the author plays on the emotions of the reader, giving them a preview of how the rest of the story is going to play