What It Means To Be A Master Of The Pen
What I mean when I say I am in pursuit of mastery of the pen.
Mastery Of The Pen Is A Difficult Concept To Define
What does it mean to be a master of the pen? Is it to be:
A best-selling author?
Prolific with your writing?
A quote creating machine?
Someone who enjoys writing, regardless of whether anyone reads it?
It could be all, some, or none of the above.
Compared to the body, mastery of the pen is a far more subjective issue.
With the body, it is almost objectively obvious who is and isn’t a master of their body.
But with writing, it is harder to define what is objectively masterful writing or not.
Of course, there are some greats who anyone in their right mind would say were masters of the pen - think Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Orwell, etc.
But on the other hand, there are some incredibly successful and well-known authors who depending on your taste, you would say they are either geniuses or flukes.
Do they qualify under the umbrella of writers who are ‘masters of the pen’?
It’s hard to say.
Frankly, I don’t have a great answer as to what an objective ‘master of the pen’ would look like.
Instead, I am going to define what mastery of the pen would mean to me.
Turning Half-Baked Ideas Into Clarified Written Form
With the rise of Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and any other form of fast and hard-hitting dopamine fixes, most people’s ability to think, let alone hold any serious ideas in their heads has dropped precipitously — and to be blunt, I don’t think many people could truly think deeply anyways before the introduction of these dopamine sucking outlets hit society.
As such, the vast majority of people don’t really have ideas any more.
The consumption-to-creation ratio must be 90:10 for most people — most people consume ideas and rarely create their own.
Their opinions are not their own but rather come from TV, social media, or whatever is popular in culture at the moment.
“People don’t have ideas, ideas have people.” — Carl Jung
Most people when asked why they believe a certain idea can only give you regurgitated or vague answers to their belief.
When pressed hard enough, they will either want to switch topics or will admit to not really knowing why they believe what they believe.
Without knowing it, their brains are chock full of half-baked ideas with very little real clarity in their thoughts or philosophies.
Now, why am I stating all of this — why am I bashing the common man’s ability to think?
Because I recognize that for most of my life, even still to this day, have been just like them.
I think I know what I think on certain issues — but in reality, I don’t know why I think that way.
I think I have original ideas — but how can I be sure if I have never had to put concrete words to them?
This is where writing (and becoming a master of the pen) comes into play for me.
Writing forces you to turn half-baked ideas into clarified forms.
In order to write, you have to think.
Likewise, sometimes in order to think, you need to write.
Effective, Soulful Communication With People Through The Written Word
The definition of communication is:
“The exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, signals, writing, or behaviour.”
What do I mean by effective, soulful communication through the written word?
“The exchange of thoughts, messages, or information through writing, which is not only logically well understood but deeply felt in the reader’s soul.”
This clarification of definitions is important to note here because many, if not most people can communicate through writing reasonably enough.
Most listicles, how-to’s, top 10’s, etc. are people communicating their advice and thinking on a certain matter — but usually you just understand it, you don’t feel it.
A master of writing not only helps you to easily understand what they are writing about but also makes you feel it — it penetrates through to a deeper layer of mind and soul.
A master of writing effectively communicates their vast inner world and transcribes it to the outer world.
A master of writing can cut to the deeper layers of the reader’s mind and soul through various channels, be it through:
Information.
Inspiration.
Entertainment.
Thought-Provoking Ideas.
A master of writing is not limited to one style and form — he can blend and weave his way through multiple styles to convey his message as effectively as possible.
I’ve explained what a master of writing does and how he does it — the final question then is, “Why does he do it?”
A master of writing writes for his own pleasure and curiosity first and foremost.
For a writer to become a master of writing, he must enjoy his process of writing and write what calls to him most — doing anything else will not lead to mastery.
You might ask, “Why would a master of writing share his writing if it’s merely for his own pleasure and curiosity?”
There are a few obvious reasons why:
Money
Social Status
Community
These are for the most part great reasons for a writer to share their writing.
But the one which stands above all, which leaves a truly lasting legacy (especially for the master writer), is the ability to affect change in people’s lives.
To give an example from my life — I have always heard you need to work hard and never give up. But it never hit me hard enough to feel like a necessity. Then I read David Goggins’s book ‘Can’t Hurt Me’ — that book hit me like a tonne of bricks. Since reading that book, I have worked 10x harder and made never giving up one of my mantras. The funny thing is, you would hardly call David Goggins a (traditional) master of the pen — but his book, his story, in his words, changed my life.
A master of writing can hit a level so profound in their chosen topic as to help change the lives of his readers.
What Pen Mastery Means To Me
To try to tie this article all together and summarise:
Mastery of the pen is turning loose and half-baked thoughts into a clear, structured written form, presented in the strongest manner possible.
Mastery of the pen is the ability to effectively communicate to not only the mind, but also the soul of the reader through various means including information, inspiration, entertainment, and thought-provoking ideas.
Mastery of the pen would mean to write at such a level of profundity as to (positively) change the life of his reader.
As I mentioned in my previous article, I could never hope to do justice explaining what achieving mastery of the pen would mean for me.
In fact, I could never hope to do justice explaining what mastery of the pen even means exactly — but I have done my best to present what it means from my point of view.
I am by absolutely no means a master of the pen — not even close.
But I will write, write, write, and write some more, and make mastery of the pen a life-long goal from here on out.
And so begins the pursuit to become a master of the pen.
Thanks for reading.
Let me know what you thought of this article — I want to hear your thoughts!