Every writer should read The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, at least once a year. If you care about writing and decide to spend $7.95 on a copy, however, brace yourself -- The Elements of Style will kick your ass. I recently completed my annual reading and was embarrassed and dismayed by how much I had forgotten in only twelve months, how much deadwood had crept into my writing, and how much vigor and clarity had drained out.

The Elements of Style is only 92 pages long. And a bar of gold weighs only 2.2 pounds. Pages 15 through 33 contain eleven Elementary Principles of Composition that will transform your writing, if you will let them. Among these Principles is the exhortation to "Omit needless words," advice exceptional not only for its value but for the force and economy with which Professor Strunk explains it:

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

I photocopied those sixty-three words and taped them to the front on my monitor, where they stand guard, reminding me to write simply and with precision. Good writers seek to communicate, bad writers seek to impress.

+posted by Lawrence @ 5/01/2004 11:53:00 PM