How to write well

So what? I hear you ask about the last post….. You obviously chose the names to fit your case. What I did in fact was first brainstorm names and then try to find some evidence in the relevant Wikipedia entry that suggested their “Outsider” status – whether in terms of nationality, academic discipline, ethnicity or gender… . It wasn’t difficult….

But I will accept that “good writing” is a rather subjective phrase.

I personally need prose to be taut – not overblown.

And prefer quotes from other authors to be worked naturally into the text – rather than forming forbidding bibliographies which clearly serve no other purpose than that of a glorified virility symbol.

I don’t need an author to prove to me that (s)he’s read the relevant literature – what I need is an indication that (s)he has the empathy to be able to select books for my further study that the author considers will help me. And authors can do that only if they are actually writing for me – not for one of their students or colleagues.

Steven Pinker is particularly good on this point

At this point, I can see that the focus of the post is shifting from the question of how to recognise good writing to the easier one of we all might learn to express our thoughts better in writing…..

I was particularly intrigued with the quote from Charles Handy about how his experience of doing the 2 minute 40 sec BBC spot “Thought for the Day” had taught him to hone his text down to the essential core….In that particular case to 450 words!

A year or so ago I stumbled on a useful format to help me present my thoughts more briefly and clearly – viz a table with questions such as what had sparked off the thoughts and what the basic message was which I wanted to leave with the reader.

I also found that this was a useful format and discipline when I wanted to make notes about a book which I had found interesting – not least because it leaves a great archive for me to access eg https://nomadron.blogspot.com/2018/03/why-we-should-not-be-so-cynical-about.html and https://nomadron.blogspot.com/2020/10/how-myths-take-root-and-are-difficult.html

And the 1982 article on Economical writing I quoted recently shows the way by being divided into 28 sections - each of which is headed by a delightfully short and clear statement or injunction viz

The author (McCloskey)'s injunction	What I think (s)he Means
Writing is the economist’s craft	Most economists are so focused on the message that they forget they are engaged in communications – which implies a reader
Writing is thinking	Most writing is thinking aloud…trying to clarify one’s own confusions….to be ready for an audience, it needs to go through about a dozen drafts
Rules can help, but bad rules hurt	A lot of books have been written about how to improve one’s writing style – some of them downright silly
Be Thou clear	Clarity is not the same as precision – and requires a lot of experiment and effort. Indeed I would rephrase the adage as “Strive to be Clear”
The detailed rules are numerous	“most advice about writing is actually about rewriting”!
The rules are empirical	The next 2 adages confused me
Classical rhetoric guides even the economical writer	Give up
You too can be fluent	Contains some lovely advice about the process of composing and transposing one’s thoughts and words
You will need tools, tax deductible	On the importance of words
Keep your spirits up, forge ahead etc	We’ve got to get the words flowing on the paper….don’t be a perfectionist….it’s just a first draft…many more to go!
Speak to an audience of human beings	Probably the most important point….who is the paper for? Imagine a typical reader!
Avoid boilerplate	Don’t use clichés or chunks of text everyone knows
Control your tone	You can (and probably should) be conversational – but if you want to be taken seriously don’t joke around
Paragraphs should have points	Readers hate to see several pages of only text. Break it up when you sense you’re moving to a new point
Use tables and graphics – and make them readable	For me, crucial
Footnotes are nests for pedants	Love it!
Make your writing cohere	Very interesting section with points I had never come across before
Use your ear	A sentence consists of a subject, verb and object, We often overburden with qualifying clauses.
Avoid elegant variation	Clumsy way of saying we should not use a lot of adjectives or adverbs to say the same thing
Check and tighten; rearrange and fit	Priceless advice….we should be doing this all the time
Rhetorical questions?	Interesting question
Use verbs, active ones	Some good points made
Avoid words that bad writers use	Some very useful examples given
Be concrete	Great example of circumlocution
Be plain	Cut out the flowery language
Avoid cheap typotricks	Don’t use acronyms
Avoid this, that, these, those	Useful point
Above all, look at your words	Words so easily take over our thoughts. Be suspicious of the words that come initially to mind ….