Keep Your Writing Simple
William Zinsser, in his book On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, begins his chapter on "Simplicity" with this straightforward reminder,
“Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular construction, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon.”
If we are not careful to keep our writing simple, we may very well be causing the reader to undergo fatigue before we arrive at our main point. These five guidelines and mindsets will help you simplify your writing and provide a more pleasant journey for your readers.
Thank You, Mr. Sergeant!
My appreciation for literature grew out of a mentoring relationship with Mr. Sergeant.
Every weekday afternoon, my parents would take me to his home for hours of English tutoring. We spent little time at the desk tackling writing exercises. Mr. Sergeant would take me from room to room with a book in his hand simply reading to me and sprinkling the stories with personal, historical, and literary commentary.
I can still see his trembling hands covering the side of his mouth as he yells across our imaginary Mississippi River as he reenacts scenes from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I will always remember his orotund voice as he impersonates what he believed the characters would have sounded like during this time.
Mr. Sergeant would sit me down at the desk only after he felt "it was time" and I was "ready."
Placing paper in front of me and a pen in my hand (we didn't use pencil much for writing assignments because he truly believed that writing deserves a permanent place that fading pencil lead wouldn't honor), Mr. Sergeant would assign me extremely simple writing challenges.
Maybe it was because of my age.
Maybe it was to instill a more pressing writing discipline.
Each task would be accompanied by a repeated editing process which required me to simplify every sentence to its smallest and clearest parts. He reminded, "Only keep what's needed."
William Zinsser admonishes his writing students with the same secret to good writing, "To strip every sentence to its cleanest components."
Mr. Sergeant’s writing tip for simplicity stuck with me throughout High School. Upon entering my first year at university, my first required class "Critical Writing," in which we further honed the craft of simple and clear writing. I still had much more to learn.
It's peculiar how, over the years, simplicity is replaced with verbosity. I believe there is a place for longer, well-crafted, complex strings of argumentation, and these must be used sparingly when appropriate. For the most part, simple sentences formed with necessary components are the secret to good writing.
(Let’s try that last sentence again … I think I can do better.)
Simplicity is the secret to good writing. (There you go, that’s much better. What do you think?)
Keeping your writing simple may sound like an easy task at first, but everyone who has tried their hand at writing with simplicity will testify of its difficulty.
Writing is hard work, and these five guidelines will help you accomplish simplicity and clarity in your writing.
Start With Clear Thinking.
You have to be clear about what you want to communicate.
If your thinking is muddled, you will unintentionally begin to grab for concepts and words indiscriminately. Soon, you have a collection of unrelated components and the task of funneling through what is needed becomes wearisome. On the other hand, clarity of thinking acts as functional scaffolding that will provide a structure to build upon. Only when you are clear with what you desire to say can you choose the right words and phrasing to use.
Use a Thesaurus … But Be Careful.
A thesaurus is a wonderful tool for a growing writer and communicator.
As a thesaurus is only a few taps away on your mobile device or clicks on your computer, why not put it to good use? Also known as a synonym dictionary, a thesaurus opens the world of synonyms and antonyms that can add depth and variety to your writing.
Though acutely chosen words breathe new life into your writing, I must warn you: Do not simply look up a word, select a synonym, and toss it into your writing. I advise using a thesaurus primarily as an instrument to expand your vocabulary. Use a thesaurus, but not without a dictionary. Use a thesaurus as a path to learning the definition of new words; consider this resource as a gateway to understanding comparison and the nuances of language. Once you understand the meaning and use of words, you can now select the proper word that conveys what you wish to communicate.
Don't be guilty of using a word incorrectly.
Declutter Your Sentences.
To be honest, decluttering my writing is still a difficult challenge ... (wait, let's try that again) ... Decluttering remains a challenge for me.
Recently, I was inspired to implement small steps toward minimalism. I started with my closet. Only when I intentionally started decluttering my closet could I see what I had and what I needed. Zinsser instructs writing students to identify "every piece of writing that wasn't doing useful work" (pg. 15), and he further gives a list of problematic components to identify such as unnecessary prepositions, useless adverbs and adjectives, qualifiers that weaken any sentence, redundancy, complex word choice, and even new "fad words."
I encourage you to reference his work on this subject as he provides easy-to-understand examples of these unnecessary components.
Take Your Time.
Take the time to do the hard work. Don't be swept up in the current of deadlines of an overcommitted schedule. Be bold to declutter your calendars and tasks, so you can spend the time necessary to declutter and simplify your writing. Good writing takes time, and utilizing that time yields great rewards.
Don't rush.
Longer Doesn't Always Mean Smarter.
Longer doesn't always mean more thoughtful. Longer doesn't always mean more important. In fact, indiscriminately longer sentences may add confusion or obscurity. Zinsser concludes his chapters on "Simplicity" and "Clutter" with this charge,
“Prune it ruthlessly. Be grateful for everything can throw away ... Is anything pompous or pretentious or faddish? Are you hanging on to something useless just because you think it’s beautiful? Simplify. Simplify.”
Bonus: A Biblical Example of the Power of a Simple Sentence.
If I may borrow an example from Scripture …
One of the most common Bible trivia questions is, “What is the shortest verse in the Bible?” Do you know the answer to this one?
The shortest verse in the Bible reads, “Jesus wept.” Do you recall the simple formula we provided my daughter in my last post on the “3 Disciplines for Better Writing”?
Someone doing something.
“Jesus wept.”
I encourage you to meditate on that verse and all of its beautiful implications. Read that portion of Scripture and notice the context in which that simple sentence lives. The simple sentence is profound in its own right, but when read in context, you unearth eternal truth, beauties, and benefits.
Life flourishes in a simple sentence.
Beauty surrounds a simple sentence.
Linus Nguyen is the founder of Of The Way Ministries and serves as lead pastor of Emmanuel Bible Fellowship (Houston, Texas). He has taught in, developed curriculum for, and written on the subjects of Biblical Studies, Theology, Discipleship, Spiritual Formation, Philosophy of Religion, Missions, Humanities, Rhetoric, and Communications at Secondary, Undergraduate, and Postgraduate levels. // Follow him on Podcast, YouTube, Pinterest, and Facebook.