Everyday Canvas

Tolstoy's Gentle Gleam and the Quills

Prompt: Tolstoy tells us, writers, to “shine with a gentle gleam.” What do you think that gentle gleam is and how can it be applied to writing? Just guess if you are not familiar with Tolstoy.

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This is something I can only guess, even though I have read Tolstoy's novels and his letters of advice to other aspiring writers. His advice seems to be different for each person, but then, from time to time or from writer to writer, he must be changing his own opinions on various elements of the writing craft.

What is sure in Tolstoy’s work is that he lets his characters grow and change. He also gives a lot of information but leaves some slack for the reader’s imagination as well. He values clarity and sincerity, I think. He may sound easy, but what he writes is very difficult work. He is at times an artist and at other times just plain human.

Thus, I think, by the phrase “to shine with a gentle gleam,” he means sincerity and inner content, and feeling with the characters with what they go through. To do that, he feels it is important to choose the right thought after probably considering a thousand of them.

His lines that impress me the most are: “Just as in speech the spoken word is silver and the unspoken one gold, so in writing––I would say that the written word is tin, and the unwritten one gold.” His “gentle gleam” might just be not what he says in so many words, but what he hints at without saying.

At this time, I am reading a new book, first printing in 2016, which I borrowed from the library, with the title How to Write like Tolstoy by Richard Cohen. Not that anyone can write like Tolstoy or would want to, but the book gave me the idea for this prompt. I would say, so far that I have read—about to the middle of it--, the book is about in writing in general, although it mentions Tolstoy here and there, but it also mentions many other authors, too. Still, I am enjoying the book immensely, especially because the author backs up his claims with many excerpts from many authors worldwide. Some of what he says, I assume, we may all be familiar with, but there are interesting pointers, as well. A good book on writing in general, I think.

PROMPT: Did you watch or take part in WDC's Quill Awards that happened on Saturday? You can see the winners here: "Note: Congratulations to all..."...tell us about a piece or a person you're familiar with.

Is my face red! These last few months have been rather hectic for me. Although I was told, a while ago, an item of mine was nominated, the whole thing passed me by, until a friend wrote a congratulatory note in my notebook, a day ago. I didn’t even know that Elle had taken over the Quills from Andrew, either.

Anyway, to commemorate this, I made a trinket, which you are welcome to. Here it is: