PR 101

So on Monday I laid the beginnings of my writing primer. Today, I want to talk about actual writing. I could fill another 20 blogs on the dos and don’t of writing properly. Obviously, I am not going to that. I do want to cover some of more of the basics of good writing.

First, one of my favorite statements on writing – it comes from Mark Twain – is:  “I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English – it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don’t let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean utterly, but kill most of them – then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.” Letter to D. W. Bowser, 20 March 1880.

That first sentence is the key to all good writing. Keep it simple. Twain also once noted he got paid the same amount for using the word cop as he did for using policeman. It is a good lesson. Too many people think that their writing had to be full of long words and even longer sentences. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Simple is always best.

The other author I suggest most writers emulate is Ernest Hemingway. Here from “Ernest Hemingway on Writing” – edited by Larry W. Phillips – are the best writing tips I have ever found. I follow them religiously. I give them to you because I cannot do any better. They are:

• Start with the simplest things.
• Boil it down.
• Know what to leave out.
• Write the tip of the iceberg; leave the rest under the water.
• Write what you see.
• Listen completely.
• Write when there is something you know, and not before.
• Look at words as if seeing them for the first time.
• Use the most conventional punctuation you can.
• Distrust adjectives
• Learn to write a simple declarative sentence
• · Tell a story in six words (Hemingway did just that. The story is “For sale: baby shoes, never used.”)
• Read everything so you know what you need to beat
• Don’t try to beat Shakespeare
• Accept that writing is something you can never do as well as it can be done.
• Don’t drink when you’re writing.
• Finish what you start.
• Don’t worry. You’ve written before and you will write again.
• Forget posterity. Think only of writing truly.
• Write as well as you can with no eye on the market.
• Write clearly – and people will know if you are being true.
• Just write the truest sentence that you know.
• Remember that nobody really knows or understands the secret.
• And the best tip of all – go fishing in summer.

If you follow what Twain and Hemingway have to say, you will turn out good copy.