Making Our Writing Good Company

In a different kind of episode, Ted is joined by Jim Lang, an emeritus professor of English at Assumption University and current professor of the practice at the University of Notre Dame’s Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence.

Jim is one of Ted’s favorite people to talk writing with in three-dimensional spaces—i.e., in-person, no internet connection needed—because he brings a teacher’s mentality to his work, which probably explains why he’s always up for a conversation about craft. And unlike Ted and most of the guests on this show, Jim writes nonfiction, including his seventh and most recent book, one that explores the writing process itself.

Titled Write Like You Teach: Taking Your Classroom Skills to a Bigger Audience, it is a guide for academics that distills the elements of good classroom teaching into strategies for writing for the general public. But while the book is pitched at that those who teach in colleges and universities, the topics he digs into will resonate with anyone who tries to create engaging prose.

Focusing on the book’s chapter on “Invitational Language,” Jim and Ted discuss challenging readers without alienating them, why the passive voice gets a worse rap than it deserves, and approaching your writing as an effort to be good company to your readers. Currently involved with a project on how AI might support teaching, Jim also shares his thoughts on its relationship to writing: what it can and cannot do, the value of learning from other humans, and what we lose when we allow machines to choose words for us.

Find Jim and his books online at jamesmlang.com.

Working Drafts episodes and info for requesting transcripts as well as more details about Ted and his books are available on his website, thetedfox.com.