Good writing is good truth telling

“Reading is supposed to be an educational tool, and most people use it like sleeping pills; it is supposed to make us free and mature, and how many does it serve merely as a way of passing time and as a way of remaining in a condition of eternal immaturity!” 
–Johann Adam Bergk

This quote feels relevant for today, doesn’t it? It feels like short-form video content dominates our attention, three seconds at a time. As a writer, I can feel indignant about how few people read. I can dream of a golden era when books were king, and everyone would have wanted to read mine. 

Except this quote is from the late 1700s. Bergk was an “intellectual dismayed at the quality of literature being produced in the 1700s,” writes Jane Freidman in her book The Business of Being a Writer. Friedman uses this quote as an example of the complaining writers have done for hundreds years about the state of readers. 

The point is this: it’s not about the people. It’s not about the culture. It’s not about the century. It’s about the writing. Good writing is good truth telling. If you’re bold enough to uncover a deeper truth, the attention will garner itself. People can’t help but notice when you strike a nerve.