on The Write Life:
While everyone will have their own definition of what good writing looks like, bad writing is more universally recognizable.
If you want to write well, it’s essential to write clearly. Anything else is an absolute disservice to your self-respect as a writer, not to mention the time and attention of your reader.
Sometimes, writers fall into the trap of thinking that if they have an important enough message to share, or an entertaining story to tell, they can get by with not writing clearly. That’s simply not the case. You run a real risk of readers switching off from your work entirely if your writing is unclear.
Let’s explore the concept of clarity of writing as well as nine techniques to attain it.
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 
Normally I enjoy the articles posted here, most make a lot of sense and despite being a seasoned author I often learn a thing or two, but this article was a little arrogant, assuming we are all fools and need guidance. Right from the start Mr. McNulty Suggested a minimal word stance. Hemingway etc. would have approved as would most journalists. Dickens, Shakespeare, Hesse, Becht, Proust, Satre were all wrong, apparently. No wonder no one has heard of them. Imagine that immortal first line from “A Tale of two cities” Mr. McNulty suggests it really should have been “Times were good and Bad”.
From there he just assumes that we are all fools.
“If you use jargon, metaphors, cultural references, or anything else outside of your intended reader’s expectation or understanding, you sacrifice writing clarity.” Like Ian Banks, Shakespeare again, FMA De Voltaire, Jack London, Joseph Conrad. (No one’s heard of them either)
“Clear writing can only flow from clear thinking. If you’re confused about the point you’re trying to make, or the way you want to express it, you don’t have a chance of writing clearly.”
Heller, Hunter Thomson (and he was a journalist), Karl Marx, Bulgakov, Tolstoy, Kierkegaard and too many others to mention saw injustice but could not understand why.
Sorry for rattling on but I think Mr. McNulty was really saying, if you wish to be a writer just like me then do as I do because otherwise you are crap.
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I have to admit I didn’t get the same impression, Ray, but I’m not an author🤔
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Och, perhaps it is just me being a curmudgeon or grump, but I do not think so. I looked back again but it is written as “I’m a star, listen to my wisdom” Dickens, Shakespeare, Voltaire, Proust, they could have improved if they had listened to me, (Mr McNulty) they knew nothing, I’m the star.
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Good points. We know what *we* mean, but that doesn’t mean that everyone else understands. Thanks for sharing, Chris. Hugs.
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That’s possibly why some authors over describe things, Teagan 🦍❤️🦍
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Oh, by the way… Wednesday I’m doing a rerun of “Pip and Artie in Outer Space” that we did in 2019. (Maybe we did it before then… at any rate, that was the last time I posted it.)
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Great, I’ll be sure to reblog it, Teagan 🦍🤗❤️❤️🤗🦍
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❤ ❤ ❤
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Reblogged this on Kim's Musings.
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