Question

What makes a good essay and what tips does H. G. Wells provide on writing essays in 'The Writing of Essays'.

Answer 1

The author HG Wells brings out the art of writing essays in a humorous manner. He says that essay writing is "entirely free from canons of criticism" and so simple that it can be learnt in brief ten minutes. H.G. Wells through his humorous style has illuminated the art of writing essays by the knowledge of his experience. He says that writing an essay is a delightfully easy task and he wonders why all people are not essayists. H. G. Wells promotes essay writing to be an easy task that can be learnt in ten minutes if correctly taught. He suggests the following basic paraphernalia to be procured in order to start writing.
Pen : H.G. Wells emphasizes on the correct choice of the pen in. order to write a good essay because the quality of pen determines the quality of writing. According to him, a pen is of paramount importance..He adds humour by saying that if a writer is wedded to a proper pen, then he can enjoy his relationship with the pen and as a result a great essay is produced. Out of many pens he prefers quills the most, as he feels that a quill activates the literary faculties of a writer, so by writing with a quill one can write worthy quotations. He explains that all the classical essayists used a quill for writing including Addison who wrote with the most expensive quill the government could purchase for him.
H. G. Wells adds on that the advert of cheap steel pens initiated the writing of inferior essays, that lack dignity which the quills profusely produced. Some people use quill nibs fitted in the ordinary pen holders, which appear fake and less dignified. If not a quill, he can only go in for a stumpy BB pencil but that would be a compromising situation as the pencil produces blunt work. It cannot match up to the dignity of the quill which can instantaneously pop a smile on the readers' face. So a pencil write up is mostly done for serious articles and reviews.
Although a lot of steel pens are available owing to the evolution, each one is customized for the writer's specific needs but Wells cannot agree to any of them. He gets turned off by the sound of the typewriter if it is suggested as an alternative and he is unable to understand that if the essayist starts typing then it would leave the poor typewriter unemployed. He considers the typewriter to be beneath the honour of a literary man also objecting to the clitter-clatter of its mechanics.
Paper: The paper quality according to H.G. Wells is very important. He prefers a luxurious, expensive, small sized cream laid note as it makes the essay compact and crisp. Some men like writing on a ruled paper as they cannot write in a straight line otherwise. He states that one who writes on cheap paper produce a work which is not liked by people and the writing does not come from within it is always imposed.
Ink: He suggests the essayists to use a glossy black ink if they want to produce a superior output of literary style as violet ink is to write fake sentimental write up. Blue black corresponds to writing vulgarity and red ink written essays are often good but not worth publishing.
He further adds on that apart from these basic paraphernalia, the mood of the writer governs the quality of the output. The writer should be in a good mood and comfortably dressed, sitting on an easy chair with arm rests and a cosy footwear to put on and then let the thoughts flow on the paper spontaneously and the writer is sure to produce the best work.