Easy reading is damn hard writing
Why our judgements on reading & writing are often wrong, a spot of research, quotable wisdom from Nathaniel Hawthorne, Benjamin Myers, Maya Angelou & Tom Cox.
Hello there, Bec here
Over the last few months I’ve been blessed by the reading Gods, with several of my favourite writers having new books out.1
When fellow Happy Valley dweller Benjamin Myers had his latest novel published, I picked up my pre-order from the local bookshop and read with delight.2
Over his career, Ben has written across several formats and genres, starting out as a music journalist, he’s published collections of short stories and essays, as well as best-selling and award-winning novels that span Lit Fic to bookclub reads covering historical fiction, crime and contemporary feel good. Rare Singles falls into the latter.
Being an unapologetic fangirl, I sent Ben a message when I finished reading it. I told him how much I loved it and what a joyful read it was, commenting that he must have really enjoyed writing it.
He thanked me for my kind words, then said it was a “deceptively difficult novel to write.”
“It felt like ‘work’ at various points,” he replied.
Oops. 😬
As nineteenth century novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne once quipped: “Easy reading is damn hard writing.” Something I should have known.
A writing faux pas
I’d conflated my reading experience with Ben’s writing process. I found it a joyful read - so it must have been fun to write, yes?
Of course, he wanted me to enjoy his writing - but that doesn’t mean he necessarily enjoyed writing his writing - or found it easy. I followed up my rookie error with an apology and curiosity about the ‘work’. He replied, saying this:
“a large percentage of it felt like real work - having to clock in each day, solve problems, and aim for a word count target. I knew how it started and ended, but also had a huge empty heartland to fill. In some ways it was harder to write than more complicated novels such as The Gallows Pole and Cuddy.”
It’s helpful to be reminded that successful writers still have to do the work. Like them we can show up, set goals, figure things out - that’s the process of writing, whether you’re just starting out or with bestsellers under your belt.
“Easy reading is damn hard writing.” Nathaniel Hawthorne
Natural writers
Wary of committing rookie error number two, I double-checked the sources for the Nathaniel Hawthorne quote. As Socrates famously said, “The Internet is the global town square.” And just like gossip spreads through a small town, quotes spread like wildfire online. So, after some digging, I discovered that Nathaniel Hawthorne never actually said easy reading is damn hard writing at all.3
I am not alone in my misattribution4 keeping company with Maya Angelou, who builds on the idea brilliantly. She told The Paris Review:5
“Nathaniel Hawthorne says, “Easy reading is damn hard writing.” I try to pull the language in to such a sharpness that it jumps off the page. It must look easy, but it takes me forever to get it to look so easy. Of course, there are those critics—New York critics as a rule—who say, Well, Maya Angelou has a new book out and of course it’s good but then she’s a natural writer. Those are the ones I want to grab by the throat and wrestle to the floor because it takes me forever to get it to sing. I work at the language.”
Writing is hard work for Maya Angelou, for Benjamin Myers, and for all writers, including me and you. It got me thinking about the difficulty involved with writing, the feeling of struggle, our need to solve problems, Ben’s ‘huge empty heartland to fill’.
Ease guides expectations
As Chris wrote, we’re debating ideas for the next book, sharing research and what that means. Last week I came across some studies that shed light on our bias toward easy reading and easy writing.
» Read more: How to survive writing a book with your partner
It turns out that when something is easy to process, we tend to like it more, believe it more, and take it more seriously.
Added to that, our experience of ease will lead us to make judgements on how well we’re doing. When our work flows smoothly, we assume we’re doing it right. But when we struggle, we often think we’re failing.
While in some tasks this struggle indicates the need to work harder - like lifting weights or solving problems - in creative work, the relationship isn’t so simple and trying harder doesn’t necessarily yield results. Hitting a block can prompt us to give up, thinking the task is beyond our ability.
Interestingly, we make other assumptions based on how creative tasks feel. Studies show that our most productive moments aren’t necessarily our most creative. We’re more likely to have breakthrough ideas later in a session, when we’ve exhausted the obvious ideas, which is less productive because good ideas are rare and hard to come by. It feels like work.
This productivity bias makes us believe that if it doesn’t feel easy, it isn’t creative. But in reality, creativity often requires working through difficulty.
Researchers even found that creativity might peak at times when we’re less naturally alert, what they call the non-optimal time of day. So, while we might expect creative tasks to feel easy and fun, actually there is a lot of graft involved. Just because something feels hard doesn’t meant mean we are doing it wrong. In fact, it could be a signal we are doing it right.
The challenge, as always, is learning how best to keep going when things get tough.
Cheering you on, Bec
P.S. Here’s a couple of writers on how they keep going - note, this is not a writing tip!
First up, I’ve been reading
’s excellent Notebook, where he muses on his possible epitaph:“He thought it was inspiration but it was just caffeine.” Tom Cox
In a similar vein was a tweet I saw last week and failed to make a note of the source (probably Socrates, or Hawthorne, or perhaps Angelou). In short, it referred to Stephen King’s prolific output and how we might credit his good habits, when his own response to how he wrote so much in the 1970s and 1980s was simply “cocaine.”
A couple of posts from our archive
If you like that kind of thing (hash tag booklover) I post my monthly reads over on Instagram, here is August’s book pile.
We both live in the Calder Valley, the home of Sally Wainwright’s eponymous Happy Valley. Our local bookshop is the wonderful Book Case Hebden Bridge and to add to the pride of place, Ben’s book was published on 1 August which is Yorkshire Day.
I first came across this quote when I visited The House of the Seven Gables, the setting of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1851 novel in Salem Massachusetts where I found it printed on lots of merch, including a postcard I bought and stuck over my desk for many years. So it’s not just the internet that gets it wrong!
‘Easy Reading Is Hard Writing’ on Quote Investigator.
Maya Angelou, The Art of Fiction No. 119, The Paris Review.
Yes! Thank you! Whoever said 'Easy reading is damn hard writing' has provided 'music to my ears' (James Fenimore Cooper). As for the the easy reading bit, 'we live in hope' (Alexander Dumas)