Elmore Leonard gives similar advice, summing it up nicely, "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip."
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/16/arts/writers-writing-easy...
Write Simply
201–210 of 354 posts
Re: Write Simply
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most complicated writing of the kind PG is complaining about isn't beautiful, though. It's verbose and clumsy and full of less good replacements for common words, like "purchase" instead of "buy", "utilize" instead of "use" and so on. Or it has flowery phrases that add nothing. A recent example is Github's recent blog post about a security vulnerability they fixed [0]. Its opening paragraph: "On the evening of March…
I think it does add information. “Out of an abundance of caution” is a stock phrase that means “we don’t think this is currently a problem but it’s a prudent thing to do”. Without it, the statement is open to interpretation: were any users actually affected?
Then say that. Use two paragraphs if you have to.
Re: Write Simply
#203I think this article ends up giving excellent examples for why you shouldn't just "write simply". There is basically no argumentation happening here and most statements are just thrown out as truths. Yes, it might be quick and easy to read through, but it's not very good writing. Examples: > Plus it's more considerate to write simply. When you write in a fancy way to impress people, you're making them do extra work j…
Wow I’m amazed that you don’t have the same interpretation to me here. Perhaps the first difference between us is I immediately assumed PG is talking about transmitting ideas (argumentation or proposition), ie writing essays and not writing fiction. What I assume he means about “writing not being pure ideas”, he means there’s an overhead in transmitting ideas via writing. This is analogous to using programming langua…
Ironically, as far as I'm concerned, excellent poetry _is_ about as close as writing gets to "pure ideas" (or at the very least pure emotion). Average poetry, maybe not so much.
I think, as usual, there's a lot of nuance here. I think emotion is inextricably linked to almost all forms of communication, and that there's not such a bright line between fiction and non fiction in that regard.
The books that have taught me the most are not necessarily the ones with the most information density or even the most clarity of thought (although both help). The ones that have really conveyed their points effectively to me have all had an element of weaving them into a narrative that I could engage with, examine from different angles, absorb and remember.
But I'm also pretty sympathetic to the idea of cutting fluff at all opportunities and getting to the root of what you want to say - that's the one thing that's improved my writing the most.
Re: Write Simply
#204When something feels easy to read, it's not just a matter of using simple words. To maximize scanability, you need to use a mix of long and short words, and also mix long and short sentences, until you achieve a kind of "flow". Famously, Dovlatov's prose (in Russian) avoids having words that start with the same letter in the same sentence, which is unnoticeable to the reader but makes the words just fly off the page.…
I think (linguistic) parsing fits your description of "function" here - like the opposite of a garden-path sentence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden-path_sentence
Re: Write Simply
#205“Easy reading is damn hard writing.“ — Nathaniel Hawthorne (apparently)* There’s definite value to simplicity in writing. At the same time, like all principles, people tend to run with the idea and misapply it. There are some cases in which your work demands a certain level of precision that’s only possible using complex words or jargon. Not to mention, writing that’s a little complicated can be a lot more fun! There…
> “Easy reading is damn hard writing.“ Reminds me of Mark Twain: "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one."
Not Twain, Pascal: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/28/shorter-letter/.
Re: Write Simply
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think most of the time it should be cut out, the times you leave it in should be intentional and rare. If you read stuff that's doing that kind of thing all of the time it makes it harder to read and the writing is often worse. It's something newer writers tend to do for some reason, I'm not sure why.
“It follows that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism, like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs to aeroplanes“ Removing the simile reduces the meaning of “sentimental archaism”. Similes clarify meaning. That’s what all imagery is for.
Sometimes it clarifies meaning, most of the time it adds nothing. "Sneakier than a fox" doesn't help.
That quote is from Orwell's Politics and the English Language: https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel...
While the one sentence out of context seems unnecessarily complex, most of Orwell's writing is pretty simple to read.
Another bit from that essay:
"The writer either has a meaning and cannot express it, or he inadvertently says something else, or he is almost indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not. This mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence is the most marked characteristic of modern English prose, and especially of any kind of political writing. As soon as certain topics are raised, the concrete melts into the abstract and no one seems able to think of turns of speech that are not hackneyed: prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house."
Arguably, Orwell would probably agree with PG.
Using imagery to clarify meaning can be done well, but part of doing it well is using the tools sparingly and intentionally with an eye towards clarity.
Another relevant bit from that Orwell essay:
"As I have tried to show, modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug. The attraction of this way of writing is that it is easy. It is easier – even quicker, once you have the habit – to say 'In my opinion it is not an unjustifiable assumption' that than to say 'I think'."
I'd argue 'sneakier than a fox' is an example of what he's talking about. A lame pre-existing set of words that does little to explain or clarify anything.
Re: Write Simply
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because James Joyce's style isn't "simple" by any stretch of the imagination, I would guess? And the essay presents its position as a general statement void of all context. What context are we supposed to assume here?
Everything has context. Paul Graham is a leader in the startup scene so more than likely he's talking about the types text relevant to startups. Blog posts, press releases, etc. Again, why the fuck would you assume Paul Graham is talking about James Joyce?
> Again, why the fuck would you
Please drop swipes like that from your arguments here, and generally please don't escalate hostility even when someone is wrong or you feel they are. Your comment would be fine without that last sentence.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Edit: as for "Try to not be autistic for a second" - we ban accounts that do that. Please review the guidelines and take the intended spirit of the site more to heart, so we won't have to ban you.
Re: Write Simply
#208“Easy reading is damn hard writing.“ — Nathaniel Hawthorne (apparently)* There’s definite value to simplicity in writing. At the same time, like all principles, people tend to run with the idea and misapply it. There are some cases in which your work demands a certain level of precision that’s only possible using complex words or jargon. Not to mention, writing that’s a little complicated can be a lot more fun! There…
> “Easy reading is damn hard writing.“ Reminds me of Mark Twain: "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one."
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Re: Write Simply
#209Re: Write Simply
#210"When you write in a fancy way to impress people..."
Is that the only reason to write in sentences of 10 words or more?