C.S. Lewis: Five Rules on Good Writing

This is the first blog I’ve written in a week and a half having been visited with the respiratory flu bug. Not fun . . . but while I was “resting” I read something C. S. Lewis wrote that I thought was perfect for the writers blog, so here it is–Enjoy!

1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.

2. Always prefer the clean direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them.

3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “more people died” don’t say “mortality rose.”

4. In writing, don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the things you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us the thing was “terrible,” describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was “delightful”; make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, “Please, will you do my job for me?”

5. Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

So there you have it, in Clive Lewis’s own words! If you can pull that off you’ll be a much better writer than you presently are. Go for it!