Good writing is always honest. Even if it hurts.

Writing well is not about putting the right spin on the perfect phrase.

That might make for well-crafted prose, but it does not make for good writing.

Good writing is something a little more than that, and sometimes a little less.

Good writing expresses the authentic idea and the truest meaning, and it distils them.

Good writing is honest.

When I read, I know and I can feel the good writing. I can feel it in the unbearable urge to cringe away from its honesty, to hide from the power of the words that express everything I am screaming out to keep inside. A good book might tell a story, or state a fact, or merely convey an idea or an image, but it will do all of these things with an honesty that is complete and never excludes its own truth.

Pop content lacks that truth. It relies on its inherent dishonesty, a mess of empty promises and vain statements and de-contextualised quotes. The top ten list is good content, and when done well it can find an audience for good, honest writing, in between the separating voids of lists.

I know why we write this work. We must, from time to time. We must, to communicate with an audience who are continually exposed to the radioactive nature of social content. There’s no shame in writing that is work, and paid work, work that provides for your life and the warmth of your home in the winter. There is no shame in accepting what you can, to produce what you’re asked, if that is what is needed.

But to write is to search for more than that. To write is to search for a chance at honesty, and through it a chance at good writing, and through it a chance at realising the nature of your work and yourself as a creator.

If you are open to your stories, and the stories of the people around you. If you are open to everything that can make you bleed and hurt and lose hope, as much as you are to the flashing lights, the honesty will find you.

If you take a moment to drag the misery out, and to write about every war you’ve cut through, and to talk about what you find to be truly wonderful and magnificent, enough to make you cry, the honesty will find you.

In the moments where it doesn’t, forgive yourself. Forgive yourself when your writing is not honest, forgive yourself when it is not good. The day will come when it is, if you let your words have teeth and your ideas have claws.