reading review: the elements of style

The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White (March 2017)

Strunk first published this classic in 1918 (!) while White contributed to future editions (the one I read was published in 1999). The authors follow their own advice- 'omit needless words'- in the most effective way: they show the reader how. By no coincidence does this book barely exceed one hundred pages. And each of those pages is filled with specific, concise advice for the aspiring writer.

These types of books pose a challenge to me- what passages should I note for later? Too many notes and I'm basically plagiarizing the book, too few and I risk losing valuable tips for my writing. My notes ended up in three general categories.

The first group included anything I knew already but suspected I might forget later. One example is 'who/whom'- when introducing a subordinate clause, the clause's function determines the appropriate word. I also certainly acknowledged the interesting temptation to write 'certainly' or 'interesting' to artificially glorify a sentence; the better approach is to highlight what is certain or interesting. As my memory tends to benefit from colorful analogies, I noted that a drawing does not contain unnecessary lines to better reinforce 'omit needless words'.

The other type of note highlighted my current areas for improvement (I took more of these notes). Some of these notes were direct, like omitting 'a' or 'the' from titles preceded by the possessive (Strunk's Elements of Style...Strunk wrote The Elements of Style...). The suggestions to use the present tense for summaries, break up convoluted sentences, and avoid problematic gendered pronouns by using the plural are recent changes in my writing that grew out of my notes for this book.

The third group falls in-between. These are my upcoming projects, so to speak, the tailoring work needed for my writing technique that I hope to put into practice as soon as possible. To describe this group as 'rules of thumb' would not be too far off the mark. Notes in this category include concepts like strong sentences use the positive form, prefer the specific, concrete, or definite, and emphasize new ideas by placing them at the end of a sentence.

I enjoyed the overall experience of reading this work. It helped a great deal that I have some writing to apply it to, of course, but the focus on brevity and clarity strikes me as useful for many kinds of skill development work. The best reason to read The Elements of Style is the book itself- again, by writing so clearly, Strunk and White set a persuasive example that readers are sure to follow.

One up: Not all the advice applies solely to writing. One section advises against injecting opinion; in responding to an invitation, accepting or declining suffices.

One down: I do not consider this a great read for beginning writers. The minimal dose of encouragement is diluted by all the rigid specifications. The points are often strengthened with example sentences typical of beginning writers. From my experience, beginners respond better to positive examples that they can aspire to rather than negative examples that look a lot like their own work. Most people don't need to be told they are no good- if they have any potential, they figure it out for themselves and try to do better next time.

Suggesting that this book is no good for beginners while also extolling its virtues raises an important question: what evidence do I have that I am no longer a beginner? when is a writer no longer a beginner?

Let's say it is someone who is able to ignore well-intended writing advice without feeling self-conscious, stubborn, or incompetent. Writers who get 'wrapped up' in proofreading- that is, those who wonder if they are spending too much time proofreading- are probably the target audience for this book.

I propose the following progression to best determine the time for this book:

1. Start writing
2. Keep writing...
3. See #2...
4. Become discouraged during proofreading
5. Pick up this book

I think reading this book too early might even harm a developing writer because those without a self-awareness of their own voice or (at least) a theory on taste are in danger of following the advice too blindly. Though it is important to know that adding '-wise' to create adjectives is 'not advised', it is much more important to retain the courage to try and describe things in an original or interesting way. A poor descriptor is preferred to no descriptor.

Writers attempting to follow the directives in The Elements of Style should not do so at the expense of learning how to express themselves. After all, even the most eloquent speakers blubbered their way through their first words.

Just saying: I thought 'do not try and explain too much' was the most applicable comment for my writing on this blog.

Maybe I should try rewriting the above 'one down' section again with this idea in mind...