Years ago, Kurt Vonnegut wrote an article sponsored by the International Paper Company, on how to write with style. He intended it mainly for writers of non-fiction, but the tips apply equally to novelists or short story writers. I'm featuring one per day; this is number three.
3: Keep it simple
As for your use of language: Remember that two great masters of language, William Shakespeare and James Joyce, wrote sentences which were almost childlike when their subjects were most profound. 'To be or not to be?' asks Shakespeare's Hamlet. The longest word is three letters long. Joyce, when he was frisky, could put together a sentence as intricate and as glittering as a necklace for Cleopatra, but my favorite sentence in his short story 'Evaline' is this one: 'She was tired.' At that point in the story, no other words could break the heart of a reader as those three words do.
'To be or not to be?' asks Shakespeare's Hamlet. The longest word is three letters long.
Joyce, when he was frisky, could put together a sentence as intricate and as glittering as a necklace for Cleopatra, but my favorite sentence in his short story 'Evaline' is this one: 'She was tired.' At that point in the story, no other words could break the heart of a reader as those three words do.
Joyce, when he was frisky, could put together a sentence as intricate and as glittering as a necklace for Cleopatra, but my favorite sentence in his short story 'Evaline' is this one: 'She was tired.' At that point in the story, no other words could break the heart of a reader as those three words do.
Simplicity of language is not only reputable, but perhaps even sacred. The Bible opens with a sentence well within the writing skills of a lively fourteen-year-old: 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.'
Jurgen adds:
This advice is echoed by another of my favorite writers, Elmore Leonard, as well as many others. If people are noticing the writing, they're not paying attention to the story.
