Wednesday Writing Tips: George Orwell

Die Wednesday Writing Tips sind eine Reihe von wöchentlich erscheinenden Schreib-Tipps erfolgreicher AutorInnen und Stoffentwicklungsmethoden.

Aus der Reihe WRITER´S TOOLBOX: TIPS FROM THE MASTERS der Gotham Writers

George Orwell: 6 Questions/6 Rules

Questions:

1. What am I trying to say?
2. What words will express it?
3. What image or idiom will make it clearer?
4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
5. Could I put it more shortly?
6. Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?

Rules:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

From Orwell’s essay „Politics and the English Language.“