Writing Tips
On Sentences, Syllables and Simplicity
You can learn a lot from paying attention to the way sentences are constructed, and the way they work. Especially sentences or paragraphs that ’speak’ to you, or have a powerful effect.
Here’s an example of a simple sentence and some illuminating analysis. The analysis iss from Stephen King’s On Writing, about a sentence from Steinbeck’s [...]
How Do You Know When The Words Need to Go?
Read over your compositions, and where ever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out - Samuel Johnson
How do you know when some of your words need to go? When there are bits of prose which - however sparkling - deserve to end up on the cutting room floor?
This [...]
When Adjectives are Necessary
When you catch an adjective, kill it
So wrote Mark Twain, so it must be right. Plus it’s the name of a book. And it’s deeply quotable, so easily found on a google search for adjectives.
But… how does a quote like that help you work out when and how to make use of adjectives? This was [...]
A Simple Guide to Compiling a Free E-Book
Thanks for the feedback on the ‘Asking Questions For a Change’ e-book. A few of you asked about how I compiled it - a question I’ve been asked before when I put the others out. I’m not pretending to be an expert here, and I’m sure there are blog posts aplenty out there [...]
Why Do People Choose to Use Long Words?
Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious, the coy and the cute. Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy, ready and able. (Strunk and White)
There’s no shortage of writing advice out there telling you to keep your writing simple, to use plain language, and to avoid jargon like the plague. [...]
