Truth and Writing

Buthaina Al-Essa

The book "Truth and Writing" revolves around descriptive writing in short stories and novels and examines four axes: "Strategies," "Tools," "Themes," and "The Story." The book is part of a series

Writing about writing by Kuwaiti writer Buthaina Al-Essa.

In the introduction to her book, the writer Al-Essa asserts that truth is the compass of writing. It is the place we head to, line after line. And because truth is the essence and goal of artistic work, description, and descriptive writing, have this central importance in the novel. It is not merely a tool through which we attempt to activate our ability to weave different worlds, as much as it is the tool that monitors the meaning intended by the writer. It is not a solid mass, as much as it is a mist or dust, something that disappears in the entire work, line after line. Talking about descriptive writing cannot occur in isolation from the novelistic truth. If truth is the goal, then description is the means. It is a means that takes on the rule of the goal. This book is an attempt to trace the path of a single thread in the novelistic architecture: the descriptive thread. We may think of it as simple and secondary, compared to the other components of the novel, such as plot and characters. Elements that may seem more essential and tempting to the interested writer, but the reality is that the descriptive thread is intertwined with all elements of the novel. It permeates the characters, the event, and the place, and it is difficult to achieve anything in the novel without it. It is often the dividing line between the novel and the story, between good literature and bad writing. Talking about descriptive writing, surprisingly! is talking about writing the novel in its entirety. It is seeing the whole through the part, and understanding the ocean from a drop of water. Let's begin.