Guide on Writing 1

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, amen. My Lord, I intend to write a good piece of writing, perhaps as best as any brief text can be. Yet I possess no understanding or precise knowledge on how this piece of writing can fulfill the criteria of goodness. I pray to You before I write anything, so I only rely on Your graces to help me write in a good manner. Yet somehow all these times my writings have always received positive feedback from others. That means it seems You are the one who mostly work through my hands instead of my own work.

However, I would be gladdened if I can receive from You that ideal form of writing, or guidance on writing, that I can use on my own and I can establish a method of writing good writings. So for the very least, if the content fails to measure up to goodness, then the writing is good by its form and method. For I am a writer and I seek to excel not only in the content of my writing but also in the very form or quality of writing itself. So speak to my mind, oh God, and I shall listen to You.

The first thought I receive from You is that the way a writing should be written and its goodness depends not on its structure or its form but on its purpose. So I must first determine what purpose do I want a writing to achieve and then the purpose of writing shall determine every property of the writing. For that reason, the form and structure of an informative writing would be different from the form and structure of an entertaining writing. The same goes for theoretical and practical writings. I perceive from You that then that my writings will not have the same purpose for every single writing but each writing may have a different purpose depending on my desires at that time.

However, it is revealed by You that I will typically write only several types of writings. The first type of writing is the beautiful writing. This writing is useful by virtue of its form and language instead of its content. The content may be useful for my own understanding, but I do not expect it to be useful for other people other than their own deepened understanding of a particular matter as well. The second type of writing is the practical writing. This writing is useful not only by its form and language but also by its content, its content can improve people’s lives. Yet even the practical writing can be divided into 2 further subtypes, the absolutely practical and the theoretically practical writing.

The absolutely practical writing is writing which content can be practiced immediately in the daily life. This means it can be practiced by everyone possessing reason and intellect. I perceive from You that writings such as these will touch on moral issues mostly, but may also touch on scientific issues in so far that they correlate with the improvement of one’s life. The theoretically practical writing is writing which content can be practiced by experts or specialists of the subject. It is inferred that this kind of writing will in itself require expert knowledge on particular subjects. Will I ever reach this kind of knowledge? God knows.

Then, I receive from You the particular method of writing that I shall employ in writing. First, I must determine the topic that I want to write about. Then, I shall determine the purpose of writing. Next, I shall formalize the structure of the writing and if needed be conduct some research into the matter. Finally, I compile everything I have into a single piece of writing, and once that is done I shall publish it to my audiences. This serves as my most updated version on the guide of writing, thank you Lord for Your Grace. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, amen.

Kemuliaan kepada Bapa, dan Putera, dan Roh Kudus, seperti pada permulaan, sekarang, selalu, dan sepanjang segala abad, amin. Allahku, Engkau tahu mengapa aku menulis ini, dan kepada para pembacaku yang berbahasa Indonesia, tulisan ini aku hasilkan sebagai penerjemahan dari tulisan bahasa Inggris yang ada di atas. Tulisan ini berisi ringkasan dari wahyu Allah kepadaku tentang apa yang membuat suatu tulisan baik. Sebab aku sangat ingin menulis tulisan yang baik, dan membuat setiap tulisan menjadi versi terbaik dari tulisan tersebut.

Allah menyatakan kepadaku bahwa kebaikan suatu tulisan paling pertama diukur dari pemenuhan tujuan tulisan tersebut. Jadi apa yang aku inginkan tercapai dari suatu tulisan, jika tercapai, maka tulisan itu adalah baik. Misalnya secara ekstrim, jika tulisanku ditujukan untuk menghancurkan suatu hal, dan hal itu berhasil hancur oleh tulisanku, maka relatif pada tujuan tersebut tulisanku adalah baik. Namun, tentu saja itu tidak akan pernah terjadi, aku bukan orang yang senang menghancurkan, kecuali menghancurkan argumen-argumen tidak benar dan segala macam ketidakbenaran atau kejahatan, mereka semua layak dihancurkan sampai tak bersisa.

Jadi aku harus pertama menetapkan tujuan dari suatu tulisan, baru dari tujuan itu aku dapat menetapkan semua hal lain, baik itu topik, struktur, atau isi dari tulisan, dan setelah itu aku dapat menulis tulisanku dengan baik. Allah menyatakan bahwa tulisanku akan berupa 3 jenis secara umum, yaitu tulisan indah, tulisan praktis khusus, dan tulisan praktis umum. Tulisan indah memiliki kebaikan karena menimbulkan sukacita dalam pembacanya oleh karena bentuk dan bahasa dari tulisannya. Jadi suatu tulisan tidak hanya berguna dari segi isi, tapi juga segi bentuk dan bahasa. Tulisan praktis khusus adalah tulisan yang berguna bagi para pembaca yang ahli dalam suatu bidang karena isi dari suatu tulisan berguna bagi keahlian sang pembaca. Tulisan praktis umum adalah tulisan yang berguna bagi khalayak umum karena isinya dapat diterapkan oleh siapapun secara sehari-sehari untuk kebaikan mereka. Demikian panduan tulisanku yang terbaru. Kemuliaan kepada Bapa, dan Putera, dan Roh Kudus, seperti pada permulaan, sekarang, selalu, dan sepanjang segala abad, amin.