What makes for good non-fiction writing?

This blog has always been interested in “good writing” – by which I mean writing “which makes an impact”. And I’m not talking about novels - much as I may have enjoyed characterisation in the stuff I would read in my leisure time at an earlier stage in my life.

I’m referring to the non-fiction world which has been my focus this past decade. Reference to “writing which makes an impact”, of course, just begs further questions - such as how widely shared is the impact? And what sort of impact? In aggression? In the extent or source of evidence brought to bear? In challenging prevailing opinions? 

Clearly, what makes an impact on me as a white, Scottish middle-class male retiree is very different from writing which appeals to young, black, unemployed and American women. But there should surely be some measure of agreement about what constitutes good writing amongst at least university-educated retirees?

I’ve been concocting one of my famous tables this last week in an attempt to explore that question. It covers the living and dead, young and old, matters of style and of character. At the moment it has 35 entries in which George Orwell figures as, perhaps, the most important although I have always felt that Arthur Koestler was the more gripping writer. To help me on my task, I’m dipping back into Chris Hitchen’s little book from 2002 – “Why Orwell Matters” (Hitchens is naturally on the list!) and have just downloaded Bernard Crick’s 1980 biography of George Orwell (written with the support of his widow) 

One of the things I’m discovering is how difficult it is to try to convey the distinctive feature of a writer’s “tone of voice”. When I googled this I came across an interesting suggestion that there are four types of writing – expository, descriptive, persuasive and narrative thus – 

EXPOSITORY; Expository writing is one of the most common types of writing. When an author writes in an expository style, all they are trying to do is explain a concept, imparting information from themselves to a wider audience. Expository writing does not include the author’s opinions, but focuses on accepted facts about a topic, including statistics or other evidence.

Examples of Expository Writing

·       Textbooks

·       How-to articles

·       Recipes

·       News stories (not editorials or Op-Eds)

·       Business, technical, or scientific writing 

DESCRIPTIVE; When an author writes in a descriptive style, they are painting a picture in words of a person, place, or thing for their audience. The author might employ metaphor or other literary devices in order to describe the author’s impressions via their five senses (what they hear, see, smell, taste, or touch). But the author is not trying to convince the audience of anything or explain the scene – merely describe things as they are.

Examples of Descriptive Writing

·       Journal/diary writing

·       Descriptions of Nature

·       essays 

PERSUASIVE; When an author writes in a persuasive style, they are trying to convince the audience of a position or belief. Persuasive writing contains the author’s opinions and biases, as well as justifications and reasons given by the author as evidence of the correctness of their position. Any “argumentative” essay you write in school should be in the persuasive style of writing.

Examples of Persuasive Writing

·       Op-Eds and Editorial newspaper articles

·       Advertisements

·       Letters of recommendation 

NARRATIVE; When an author writes in a narrative style, they are not just trying to impart information, they are trying to construct and communicate a story, complete with characters, conflict, and settings.

Examples of Narrative Writing

·       Oral histories

·       Novels/Novellas

·       Short Stories

·       Anecdotes