Back To Basics: Questions to Ask and Rules for Every Writer

Good afternoon, bloggers!

Fall will be here in just a few weeks, and with it back-to-school. I won’t be among the students this semester, as I’ve opted out this semester in order to work a little and take a little bit of a needed break. I’ll be back in the winter, but it still makes me think of class nonetheless -- which brings me to this week’s blogger tip, which is really more a small series of simple but important writing tips. I figure it’s always good to be reminded of the basics.
I have this list posted on the wall next to my computer, originally a handout from one of the greatest professors of American literature and writing ever known at Eastern Michigan University, and one of my personal mentors, Dr. Jeff Duncan. These are from George Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language,” and provides a list of questions and elementary rules to follow for every writer. Every time I sit down to write I review it, and I always seem to find some helpful application:

Questions to ask while writing:
1) What am I trying to say?
2) What words will express it?
3) What image or idiom will make it clearer?
4) Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
5) Could I put it more shortly?
6) Have I said anything that is avoidable ugly?

Rules to Follow:
1) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2) Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4) Never use the passive where you can use the active. For a good explanation of passive vs. active voice in writing go here.
5) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word (like, say, real estate jargon) if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
 

I hope you find these tips as helpful as I have. Please feel free to email me anytime with questions or comments kasey@remaxplatinumonline.com.