I recently came across some advice that C.S. Lewis gave to one of his pen pals and I thought it was very much worth repeating. Surrounded as we are in a world that seems to value obfuscation and double-talk, his advice on how to write effectively is a refreshing breath of common sense and clear sightedness. And here it is, straight from Aslan:
1: Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.
2: Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them.
3: Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean "More people died" don’t say "Mortality rose."
4: In writing: Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was "terrible," describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was "delightful"; make us say "delightful" when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers "Please will you do the job for me."
5: Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say "infiinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
I think my favorite is number 4, as it it truly cuts to the heart of evocative writing and I’ve not heard it stated in quite such a way before. Deploy your adjectives and similes, allusions and carefully crafted phrases, and let the feelings appear in your reader without further prompting. Just as there’s no need for a sign "dragons ahead" when the path is strewn with bits and pieces of ex-heroes and the trees exhibit a stylish charring around the edges, so too is there no need to tell the reader how they should feel. Rather, compel them feel that way from the words you choose.
- And that’s today’s word from the bird
