Writing Tips from C.S. Lewis

I've always wanted to be a writer. I know many people who are brilliant writers. It just comes naturally for them. For me, on the other hand, it is a slow learning process. So I feel blessed by advice like this from C.S. Lewis:


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 is
"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.

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