When I feel the need for a big helping of writing inspiration, I turn to Mark Twain.I appreciate his blend of clarity, succinctness and wicked humor. And it's fascinating how well his advice holds up more than a century later. Here's an example:
"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
Sounds very Zinsser like, doesn't it? In my search for Twain quotes on writing, I came across this book that I immediately added to my Amazon wish list: "Mark My Words: Mark Twain on Writing."
Amazon's review describes it as "kind of like an I Ching for writers: You throw the book open to wherever and some good advice or insight spills forth from this greatest of American authors: The same man, after all, who said he hadn't done 'a day's work in all my life. What I have done I have done because it has been play . . . ' A good attitude, indeed, to bring to your word processor, quill pen or typewriter."
It sounds delicious.
-- Ann Zeman
Thanks for recommendation this, this should be a real gem!. On a related note, I was looking for the style sheet Hemingway used while he was in Star, I finally got it and here is a copy.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kansascity.com/static/pdfs/Hemingway_stylesheet_Plain_Text.pdf