Powerful Points from "Style", Part 1

Serious writing students of the business, academic, or professional ilk should read Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, sixth edition, by Joseph M. Williams (New York: Longman, 2000). Williams renders far more than ten lessons in his cogent essays on fluent, clear, and purposeful writing. One of my favorites is this:

(The) First Principle of Writing: We write well when we would willingly experience what our readers do when they read what we’ve written. That puts a burden on us as writers to imagine ourselves as readers.

I could not agree more. I frequently see people criticize their coworkers’ writing and then commit errors even more grievous. Williams’s observation is one of many excellent ones in his book, so I will touch upon a few more in the next six posts.


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