Harris vs Sullivan

Ahh, procrastination…

To compare and contrast two subjects, or in this case two authors, one usually makes a list of defining characteristics. However, while reading what Harris had to say about writing, I realized that Harris and Sullivan write in two extremely different situations and therefore are not that easily compared. This is especially true of the comparison of Harris, who writes more in the traditional view, and Sullivan, who may be described as progressive.

Harris’ style is all based from writing, and then, as the title of his book suggests, rewriting. This suggests a careful placement of words and editing of phrases. This is nothing like what Sullivan does in his blogging. As you may remember, Sullivan suggests a more dangerous form of writing that he compares to extreme sports. Also, the material written in blogs is read at face value, often as a source of entertainment and therefore not always thoroughly digested. In Harris’ case, the writing he speaks of will be published and he is well aware of how critical people can be on writing.

The major similarities were a lot harder to find. One particular example, in reference to an aforementioned phrase Harris says “The strength of this passage hinges on the word moreover…” This statement goes to show that the writing Harris does relies a lot on emotion, just like blogging. Blogging relies a lot on key words, used to catch the reader’s eyes. The purpose of using these words leads again to differences. In traditional writing like Harris does, the key words go to show reliability of text, and to make the book or article a page turner. In blogging however, those key words go to make the blog memorable.

Comparing Harris vs. Sullivan is much like comparing apples to oranges.