A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus:
- 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?
And he will probably ask himself two more:
- Could I put it more shortly?
- Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?
Friday, June 15, 2007
Guest Blogger
Today's guest blogger is George Orwell:
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George Orwell would have approved of your blog!
ReplyDeleteIt is encouraging that Orwell didn't find writing easy. Bernard Crick's biography tells how, when Orwell started serious writing on return from Burma, he struggled to write well.
ReplyDeleteA friend says: "We tried not to be discouraging, but we used to laugh till we cried at some of the bits he showed us." And then: "He had the gift, he had the courage, he had the persistence to go on in spite of failure, sickness, poverty, and opposition, until he became an acknowledged master of English prose."