Resources for The Writer’s Voice

My next thought concerned the choice of an impression, or effect, to be conveyed: and here I may as well observe that, throughout the construction, I kept steadily in view the design of rendering the work universally appreciable. I should be carried too far out of my immediate topic were I to demonstrate a point upon which I have repeatedly insisted, and which, with the poetical, stands not in the slightest need of demonstration — the point, I mean, that Beauty is the sole legitimate province of the poem. A few words, however, in elucidation of my real meaning, which some of my friends have evinced a disposition to misrepresent.

If you’re writing about topics with a great deal of ambiguity, be prepared to encounter the already-made-up mind in your readers. The world is filled with complicated, ambiguous situations. It may take a while for the evidence to come in, or for a situation to clarify. During that transitional time, we either accept uncertainty or make provisional decisions. Some people find ambiguity inherently painful or difficult to handle, and seize on a quick decision. According to psychologist Arie Kruglanski, people exhibit different levels of a need for closure as a personality trait. Individual levels vary; you can take a quiz on Kruglanski’s website to see where you land on his Need For Closure Scale. People with a strong need for closure tend to make decisions more quickly in uncertain situations. Having made a decision, they stick to it with more tenacity. And that tendency can lead them into trouble.