I learn the most about writing by reading what authors have to say about the craft and how they create. Sometimes these definitions find their way into my own definitions; sometimes they are changed; and sometimes they are discredited. Regardless, the study of the craft is as imperative as reading as much as you can, whatever you can get your hands on. Reading, whether the writing be good or bad, improves your own ability, but reading is not enough. Anyone serious about writing also needs to study the craft.

I’ve been reading the forward to Oliver Twist (Third Edition, 1841). Who knew Charles Dickens was full of such inspiration—such genius? He says things I’ve thought to myself a hundred times, and things I knew but hadn’t figured out how to put into words. Check out these gems:

I have yet to learn that a lesson of the purest good may not be drawn from the vilest evil.

It is wonderful how Virtue turns from dirty stockings; and how Vice, married to ribbons and a little gay attire, changes her name, as wedded ladies do, and becomes Romance.

Dickens is talking about society, and the impact it attempts to have on art. The wealthy’s perceptions of how the world should turn become the perceptions of retail, entertainment, and media industries. Their credos are adopted and propagated by religious, political, and other special interest industries. These perceptions and credos are passed along to the general population, becoming standards in culture. They dictate what should be allowed in society, or what is acceptable to expose about society. Those who share different beliefs are ostracized. Lies and criticism are used to extinguish their voices forever, or at least discredit them enough that there is no danger of the majority paying them any attention.

This one is my favorite:

I have no respect for their opinion, good or bad; do not covet their approval; and do not write for their amusement.

That should be a writer’s mantra. Could there be a sentence more absolutely perfect? The following quote ties in with the above statement:

It is useless to discuss whether ... conduct and character ... seems natural or unnatural, probable or improbable, right or wrong. It is true. ... it is a contradiction, an anomaly, an apparent impossibility, but it is a truth.

The point that Dickens made over a hundred years ago is still true today; it can be heard at any writer’s conference—for those who actually listen—or read in any book that claims to teach the aspiring author how to write: Honesty is imperative in fiction, even if the story itself is built on lies. A writer must be honest about setting and situations; honest about characters and how they speak, how they behave, and how they react. The stories must take on a reality of their own, even if that reality is separate from the writer’s beliefs and system of values. Fiction cannot be censored because the writer may fear what others may think, not only about the work itself, but about the writer as a person. Honesty in fiction cannot be limited to the comfortable or socially acceptable. If it is, there really isn’t a story to tell at all.