Forum / Flashy thoughts --

  • Nv_kid.thumb
    Ramon Collins
    Jul 04, 05:30pm

    from a master writer, William Zinsser (On Writing Well):

    "There's no sentence that's too short in the eyes of God.”

    "Four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity."

    "Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon.”

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    Sam Rasnake
    Jul 05, 10:31am

    Nice.

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    Susan Tepper
    Jul 05, 01:09pm

    Yes, so nice

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    Martha Williams
    Jul 05, 03:47pm

    Mm.

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    Michelle Elvy
    Jul 08, 08:58pm

    Love that! thanks for posting!

  • Linda.thumb
    Linda Simoni-Wastila
    Jul 08, 09:41pm

    The four premises - perfect antidote to over-writing. Thanks. Peace...

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    eamon byrne
    Jul 09, 02:44am

    dunno. sounds like a recipe.

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    Darryl Price
    Jul 09, 08:13am

    I like it!

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    James Lloyd Davis
    Jul 09, 08:30am

    I'll go with Eamon on this. Soumds too much like a mandate. Rules and art should never be mixed. Do you really want rules?

    The best steaks are not the lean ones.

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    James Lloyd Davis
    Jul 09, 08:37am

    'Sounds' not 'Soumds.' Spelling, of course, should follow mandates ... with exception, but even grammar should be subject to the demands of context. Do you think grammatically? Off subject, I know.

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    Matt Dennison
    Jul 09, 10:56am

    Ah loves me a LOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNG

    Nabokovian single-sentence

    paragraph (Nabokovian as in *by* Nabokov)

    now 'n then.

    And a Joycean "She was tired," as well.

  • Nuclearman2_1_.thumb
    Christian Bell
    Jul 09, 12:31pm

    I like Zinsser’s premises, though I usually fall on the side of, don’t give me rules.

    Personally, I have fun playing in the areas of unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon.

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    Matt Dennison
    Jul 09, 12:42pm

    Variety is the spliff of life.

  • Linda.thumb
    Linda Simoni-Wastila
    Jul 09, 04:46pm

    Hmmm.... I don't see these as rules at all, merely approaches. As I do with clay and glass, I push the limits of the medium of words, or at least try to -- stretching, shrinking, turning inside-out. But in the end, if no one but me can understand what I've written and (hopefully) be moved, then it stays in my own private folder.

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    D'Arcy Fallon
    Jul 10, 01:44pm

    God Bless Bill Zinsser. The man knew his stuff.

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    Gary Percesepe
    Jul 10, 01:48pm

    met zinsser once in yellow springs--a good guy

    native nyer--of many generations

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