Rules for Writers

George Orwell wrote in 1946 about the importance of precise and clear language in his famous essay, "Politics and the English Language".  He argued that vague writing can be used as a powerful tool of political manipulation because it shapes the way people think.

Orwell gave us six rules for writers:

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.

During my 14 years as City Entomologist for Winnipeg, I wrote countless letters, memos, and reports. I followed rules 2-5 above almost religiously.  But, I believed that the most important rule for me (then and now) was rule 2.  I sometimes joked that I'd rather use a 1-cent word rather than a 50-cent word any day.

This rule also helped me when I was trying to explain a technical subject to senior administrators, politicians and reporters.  When speaking to these people you really had to follow the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid), long promoted by the military.

I'm writing about these rules right now because, over the past few days, I've been researching some technical subjects relating to photography on the Internet.  So many writers broke all of the rules of good writing.  Often, I had to read many different writings on the same topic to begin to understand how to do something.  I sometimes read 6 or 7 different articles before I came across one that clearly explained something in easy to understand words.

I hope I didn't break too many rules in this post.