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"Use minimalism to achieve clarity. While you are writing, ask yourself: is it possible to preserve my original message without that punctuation mark, that word
by kylecazar 1y ago
"Use minimalism to achieve clarity. While you are writing, ask yourself: is it possible to preserve my original message without that punctuation mark, that word, that sentence, that paragraph or that section?"
This echoes advice I first read in Strunk & White. It remains the most actionable tip for better writing I'm aware of, technical or otherwise.
Aside: I consider McCarthy's residency at SFI an ideal job
- dsizzle 1y agoYes, I came here to say this sounds a lot like Strunk & White
- marcuskaz 1y agoSorry, but he takes it too far. McCarthy's omission of punctuation makes his books difficult to understand who is saying what, and a challenge to follow especially with dialogue. The Road and No Country for Old Men both do not contain quotation marks for speech, and he omits the common speech tags like "he said" or "she exclaimed" which makes it a challenge to know who is saying what. It is a choice and the art form he's choosing, but is far from writing for clarity.
- mariusor 1y agoI would assume that his suggestions for clarity in "scientific papers" and his literary style don't overlap all that much to infer the former from the later.
- greenie_beans 1y ago> the former from the later my writing advice: never use the former and the latter
- mariusor 1y agoDoes it make me sound pretentious? That's fine, we're debating literary styles after all. :D
- greenie_beans 1y agono, it's just a stylistic pet peeve of mine. lacks specificity and always makes me have to think about which is the latter and which is the former, no matter how many times i look it up. scrambles my brain.
- suuuuuuuu 1y agoThis is certainly the case, but it does make it all the more amusing that the myth > Commas denote a pause in speaking.... Speak the sentence aloud to find pauses. made its way into this article. Hard to imagine that this particular point, to which I might attribute many of the comma splices I see in scientific writing, actually came from a professional writer.
- jjmarr 1y agoMcCarthy's books involve unrelenting violence. If he viewed commas as pauses, it makes sense that he would never use them.
- oh_my_goodness 1y agoIt goes without saying that you're a better writer than Cormac McCarthy. Tell us something beyond that.
- suuuuuuuu 1y agoThe implication was that likely not all of the advice in this article, which was written by biologists, is actually attributable to McCarthy.
- sacredSatan 1y agoI agree about clarity, so this is just an aside but that's what makes it a fun experience for me. It's unlike reading anyone else (although I haven't read many authors). I'd say no country for old men was still pretty straightforward, but I had to re-read sentences and whole paragraphs with blood meridian. The work makes it worth it, makes it that much more rewarding to me personally. It's like choosing to play a difficult videogame, because you know once you overcome it, it'll be great.
- marcuskaz 1y agoI agree, his literary work is unique, and does take a bit more work to read, and with that it includes additional meaning behind it. For example, in The Road often times it doesn't even matter if its the boy or the man saying it. However, I wouldn't take his advice on how to write for clarity. I too often found myself rereading paragraph, "wait is this description or dialogue", "who said that" - this is not what you want in scientific papers
- kylebenzle 1y ago[dead]
- greenie_beans 1y agotechnical writing and fiction writing are two totally different forms of writing. the ability to modulate between those disciplines is the sign of a good writer.
- throwpoaster 1y ago> The Road and No Country for Old Men both do not contain quotation marks for speech, and he omits the common speech tags like "he said" or "she exclaimed" which makes it a challenge to know who is saying what. I am reading NC4OM right now and this is not, technically, the case. He does use those “speech tags”.
- jcul 1y agoI recently read Blood Meridian, the only one of his books I've read. I agree this was a bit jarring and confusing at the start, but I got used to it by the end. Though I haven't read any scientific papers, so can't comment on those.
- amelius 1y agoWhen I read papers I often think: if only the author had the space here to write two sentences instead of one, then perhaps I would immediately understand what they are trying to say.
- cyrillite 1y agoSometimes two sentences is the minimum necessary number of sentences, but everybody should be wary of that instinct
- bbminner 1y agoOh, that's the only way to write a good paper - first you write 1.5x pages to figure out what you want to say, and then, with this knowledge, you replace entite confusing paragraphs with short sentences focused on exactly that. When i don't know how to express an idea, i ask myself "-so what idea are you trying to communicate? -well, that XYZ holds -if so, just go ahead write literally that!"
- raincole 1y agoIt's a great way to write fiction too. But only if you're not marrying to what you've written.
- Eugeleo 1y agoFWIW I think this is exactly the opposite of what the OP was trying to say. I think the OP meant that they often wish authors had used more space to explain their ideas, because that would immediately make them more accessible. And I must agree. I often feel papers are written with an extra 20% over the page budget, then condensed in the last minute to fit the constraints, which hurts the exposition.
- sfpotter 1y ago"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
- treetalker 1y agoYet behaving consistently according to well-chosen rules is a path to probable prosperity and, often, greatness.
- auggierose 1y agoI guess that means that machines will be greater than man could ever hope for.
- sfpotter 1y agoWhat kind of greatness? Or prosperity? Well-chosen according to whom?
- throwpoaster 1y agoYou’re using an absolute attachment to relativism to critique objectivism. This is a category error.
- sfpotter 1y agoStrawman word salad.
- throwpoaster 1y agoBig brain socialist “everything is a special case” quote.
- paulpauper 1y agoAside: I consider McCarthy's residency at SFI an ideal job This is a testament to just how multifaceted he was.
- nkrisc 1y agoReminds of this quote attributed to Dieter Rams: > A designer knows that he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing to add, but when there is nothing to take away.
- shakow 1y agoThat's from Saint-Exupéry. https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/38837/where-does-this-translation-of-saint-exuperys-quote-on-design-come-from https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/38837/where-does...
- tuatoru 1y agoI routinely reduce my Readmes by 30% or more in the third draft.
- mhuffman 1y ago"Use minimalism to achieve clarity. While you are writing, ask yourself: is it possible to preserve my original message without that punctuation mark, that word, that sentence, that paragraph or that section?" This is rich, coming from the guy that spends multiple paragraphs describing an empty ditch in the desert.
- Eisenstein 1y agoApparently he thinks that is the minimum required. There is no metric included with the statement.
- chrisweekly 1y ago"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoine de St Exupery
- riddley 1y ago"If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter."