Welcome to Day 155...
Thanks to his classics like 1984, Animal Farm, Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell is a legendary writer.
So what does this master have to say about the craft of writing...
Well in Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language" he shares the following...
For every sentence, a scrupulous writer, will ask at least four questions:
- What am I trying to say?
- What words will express it?
- What image or idiom will make it clearer?
- Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
The writer should also be curious to know...
- Could I put it more shortly?
- Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?
- Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
- Never use a long word where a short one will do.
- If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
- Never use the passive where you can use the active.
- Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
- Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
It's always a good day, when you're learning from a master...
Here's Today's Takeaway Lesson...
Here's to Being All In,
Maggie
Follow me on Twitter @AuthorMaggie #busywriterslife
No comments:
Post a Comment