4 ms·

The Day You Became a Better Writer (2007)

• combatentropy 10y ago
  > Simple means getting rid of extra words. > Don't write, "He was very happy" when you can write "He was happy." > You think the word "very" adds something. > It doesn't. > Prune your sentences. Yes, and this is corroberated by three of the classics on English composition: The King's English, The Elements of Style, and On Writing Well. Good writing comes down to inspecting every word of every sentence. > I rewrote it a dozen times. And rewriting and rewriting. Writing is rewriting. Experienced professionals rewrite more than novices. I think some people think it's the other way around, that the more you write, the less you have to rewrite. I suppose it comes out better the first time, but I think writers who prize clarity and grace in their writing get addicted to pruning and rearranging and rewording. Again this is corroberated by On Writing Well. He pastes in a scan of one of his draft pages, with editor's marks all over it. It wasn't his first draft, it was his fourth or fifth draft. Writing is a lot like programming in this regard. It takes refactoring.