Writing in Color with Bestselling Southern Author Rick Bragg

Rick Bragg is no stranger to honest writing and his tongue doesn’t hold back, either. Ask him a question about writing. Any question. He’ll treat you like family, the kind who deserves the non-abridged version to your query, and he will do it without pretense, because even though he once was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, the Ivy didn’t seep into his pores.

Sometimes, he’ll supply you with a direct answer, like what detergent to use to get pond mud off your jeans. He recommends Purex. Other times, his answers are an In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida length expose on how to kill bad writing or make words turn into true stories. Whether you understand the answer, you smile. The reason you smile is the answer is straight, and clever, and built to fit inside a working writer’s toolbox, with emphasis on the word, “working.”

When a group of non-fiction writers gathered on Zoom at the May 2021 Looking Glass Rock Writers’ Conference, Rick Bragg explained why he harps on “Writing in Color,” saying, “I have never, in my time on this sorry ol’ earth, heard anyone say that they greatly enjoyed a piece of writing because it was so exquisitely dull.”

To hear him talk, there is no reason to be a color-blind writer. Writing in color is “a thing that can be accomplished with both stark, spare writers and more floral, gothic ones.” To explain what he meant by writing in color, he quoted Chekov, who said, “Don’t tell me the moon is shining. Show me the glint of moonlight on broken glass.” In typical Rick Bragg fashion, he finished his introduction with, “think of that, with an accent on the mountain South.”

Getting into Rick Bragg’s mind was half the fun of learning how to be a better non-fiction writer. He thinks about cows when he goes to the doctor because it relaxes him. He thinks ice fishing is a mystery because what’s wrong with having to put beer in a cooler to keep it from freezing, except everything? He presumes everyone knows that if you hang a dead snake on a barbed wire fence, it will rain. And he sees surfing as an expensive way to try to drown oneself.

The most damning thing Rick sees is writers who don’t read. Perhaps a close second is writers who don’t realize you have to slog it out. He hates the wear and tear of writing, but he loves having written. And just because writing is painful, it does not mean it is not the most important thing he does, and, as he says, it’s a lot easier than roofing and a sight cleaner than shoveling a barn. And he hopes, as we all should, that “when a reader finishes reading my work, he or she says, at least by God, I didn’t waste no time.’”

There ought to be a way to sum up what Rick Bragg taught this eager group of non-fiction writers, but that would be like trying to stuff six tennis balls into a can that holds only three, and since that can’t be done, here’s a list of tips in no particular order by the writer who gives true meaning to the phrase: “Writing in Color.”

1. Bring depth to the page.
2. Color in the lines as vividly as is true.
3. Clarity is a worthy goal.
4. Readers appreciate honesty.
5. Most readers are not dumbasses; give them a realistic look at life.
6. The physical place of the story is like a guiding hand for people to live out the story.
7. If you haven’t gotten to the point, be sure the reader enjoys the ride.
8. Third-hand information is a great resource. If you don’t know what happened, call your great aunt. She knows.
9. Writing is better when it moves. Keep moving. Let the details carry you.
10. Don’t be so concerned about getting to the point, but that does not mean describing the sunset in fifteen paragraphs (unless it is the last sunset you will ever see); it means you should build the narrative with interesting words and interesting scenes.
11. If the choice is underwriting a little or overwriting a little, try overwriting.
12. Describe objects to express the culture of a place or the nature of a character and when you talk about important objects, be specific and describe their condition. Is the beer a Michelob or a Pabst Blue Ribbon? A regular size or tallboy? From a six-pack or a refrigerator filled with six cases?
13. Train yourself to look for the tangible things that appear in scenes. And look for their irony. The way to do it is to make it a substantial part of how you look at the world. What color are her eyes, truly?
14. Ask good questions. You might learn she turned on her air conditioner only when company came over. Or, the figurines his wife pelted him with were ceramic Santa Clauses.
15. When asking questions, suspend your intellectual certainties. Don’t assume you know the answer. When a man tells you he ‘et a dawg,’ ask him why.
16. Notice things, like the woman who used scotch tape to hold her bible together. Maybe it was to keep the Corinthians from falling out.
17. Listen to everybody.
18. Listen to everything. Is there a song playing? What is it?
19. When you write, try to remember a sense of wonder, like when you were 5 years old.
20. Don’t be nice and dull. Writing should be redolent.
21. Choose words like “fury” instead of “anger.”
22. A narrative walk-in lead is okay.
23. Paint that sense of place.
24. Paint a picture, too. “He drew his pocket comb like a gun.”
25. Visualize the place and the people.
26. Don’t worry about the haze of memory.
27. Don’t worry yourself out of a good story.
28. Be smart. Don’t say “Uncle Festus had an affair with a mule.” You will get sued.
29. Usually, you will hurt someone’s feelings more by leaving them out of a story.
30. Use cadence and rhythm to set up what’s coming.
31. Rather than saying “I love my people,” write about their heroism.
32. Try not to be sappy or preachy.
33. A reasonable person can steer their non-fiction by their choice of scenes.
34. You want nonfiction to be true, but you want it to sound good, too. Make it ring.
35. You can write in an interesting way about anything. Try that.
36. Good writing saves everything.
37. Hang that picture on the air.

Near the end of workshop, one student noticed a small piece of art on the stark wall behind Rick and asked him why it was there. It was a black and white of a train trestle over a river hidden in mist. He said he loved the image in part because he loves straight lines. Rick also loves the picture because it haunts him. Remember the cows that calm Rick when he has to go to the doctor? Not so much the image on his wall. The train was pulling cattle cars.

In order to find a way into the story, ask questions. Not just the obvious ones. And don’t just tell it like it is. Tell it like it really is. Paint that picture and a hang it on the air. And think hard about ice fishing. Rick had a good point about that, too.