As far as which writers embody this form of gentle power - Tobias Wolff, for sure. His persona and his writing both share an easy, capacious confidence that says he has faith in his readers.
He who is afraid to use an "I" in his writing will never make a good writer.
The way for a person to develop a style is (a) to know exactly what he wants to say, and (b) to be sure he is saying exactly that.
As a writer, the best mindset is to be unafraid.
As writers we must, from our very opening sentence, speak with authority to our readers.
It's hard to imagine anyone accusing Lionel Shriver of being a timid writer.
Sweeping, confident articles on the future seem to me, intellectually, the most disreputable of all forms of public utterance.
Just as you can practice three-word sentences or sentences that travel across time zones, so can you practice writing sentences that breathe unshakable conviction.
