66 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION, VOL. PC-24, NO.

2, JUNE 1981

Howtowrite with style

mainly for what they choose to Simplicity of language is not
show you or make you think about.7 only reputable, but perhaps even
Did you ever admire an empty- sacred. The Bible opens with a
headed writer for his or her mastery sentence well within the writing
of the language? No. skills of a lively fourteen-year-old:
So your own winning style must "In the beginning God created the
begin with ideas in your head. heaven and the earth."
1. Find a subject you care about 4. Have the guts to cut
Find a subject you care about It may be that you, too, are
and which you in your heart feel capable of making necklaces for
others should care about. It is this Cleopatra, so to speak. But your
genuine caring, and not your eloquence should be the servant of
games with language, which will the ideas in your head. Your rule
be the most compelling and seduc- might be this: If a sentence, no
International Paper asked Kurt Vonnegut, author
of such noveh as "Shughterhouse-Five," "Jailbird"
tive element in your style. matter how excellent, does not il-
and "Cat's Cradle" to tell you how to put your I am not urging you to write a luminate your subject in some
style and personality into everything you unite. novel, by the way - although I new and useful way, scratch it out.
would not be sorry if you wrote
Newspaper reporters and technical one, provided you genuinely cared 5. Sound like yourself
writers are trained to reveal almost about something. A petition to the The writing style which is most
nothing about themselves in mayor about a pothole in front natural for you is bound to echo
their writings. This makes them of your house or a love letter to the speech you heard when a child.
freaks in the world of writers, since the girl next door will do. English was the novelist Joseph
almost all of the other ink-stained Conrad's third language, and much
2. D o not ramble, though
wretches in that world reveal a lot that seems piquant in his use of
about themselves to readers. We I won't ramble on about that.
English was no doubt colored by
call these revelations, accidental 3. Keep it simple his first language, which was Pol-
and intentional, elements of style. As for your use of language: ish. And lucky indeed is the writer
These revelations tell us as Remember that two great masters who has grown up in Ireland, for
readers what sort of person it is of language, William Shakespeare the English spoken there is so
with whom we are spending time. and James Joyce, wrote sentences amusingand musical. I myself grew
Does the writer sound ignorant or which were almost childlike up in Indianapolis,
informed, stupid or bright, crooked when their subjects were most \ ^ where common
or honest, humorless or playful - ? profound. "To be or not to be speech sounds
And on and on. asks Shakespeare's Hamlet like a band
Why should you examine your The longest word is three saw cutting
writing style with the idea of im- letters long. Joyce, when h galvanized tin,
proving it? Do so as a mark of re- was frisky, could put
spect for your readers, whatever together a sentence
you're writing. If you scribble your as intricate and as
thoughts any which way, your glittering as a neck-
readers will surely feel that you care lace for Cleopatra,
nothing about them. They will but my favorite
mark you down as an egomaniac sentence in his short
or a chowderhead - or, worse, they story "Eveline" is this
will stop reading you. one: "She was tired."
The most damning revelation At that point in the
you can make about yourself is that story, no other words
you do not know what is inter- could break the heart
esting and what is not. Don't you of a reader as those
yourself like or dislike writers three words do. "Keep it simple. Shakespeare did, with Hamlets famous soliloquy "

Reprinted with permission; copyright 1980 by International Paper Co., New York, NY 10036.
POWER OF THE PRINTED WORD 67
meant them to say. My teachers So this discussion must finally
wished me to write accurately, acknowledge that our stylistic
always selectil)g the most effective options as writers are neither nu­
words, and relating the words to merous nor glamo,uus, since our
one another unambiguously, readers are bound to be such
rigidly, like parts of a machine. imperfect artists. Our audience
The teachers did not want to requires us to be sympathetic and
tum me into an Englishman patient teachers, ever willing to
after all. They hoped that I simplify and clarify-whereas we
would become understandable would rather soar high above the
-and therefore understood. crowd, singing like nightingales.
And there went my dream of That is the bad news. The
� doing with words what Pablo good news is that we Americans
Pica� did with paint or what are governed under a unique
� any number of jazz idols did Constitution, which allows us to
"Be merciless on yourself. If a sentence does not illuminate with music. If I broke all the write whatever we please without
your subject in some new and useful way, scratch it out." rules of punctuation, had fear of punishment. So the most
and employs a vocabulary as unor­ words mean whatever I wanted meaningful aspect of our styles,
namental as a monkey wrench. them to mean, and strung them which is what we choose to write
In some of the more remote together higgledy-piggledy, I would about, is utterly unlimited.
hollows of Appalachia, children simply not be understood. So you,
too, had better avoid Pica�-style 8. For really detailed advice
still grow up hearing songs and lo­ For a discussion of literary style
cutions of Elizabethan times. Yes, or jazz-style writing, if you have
something worth saying and in a narrower sense, in a more
and many Americans grow up technical sense, I commend to
hearing a language other than wish to be understood.
Readers want our pages your attention The Elements of Style,
English, or an English dialect a by William Strunk, Jr., and E.B.
majority of Americans cannot un­ to look very much like pages
they have seen before. White (Macmillan, 1979).
derstand. E . B. White is, of
Why? This is because
All these varieties of speech they themselves have course, one of the
are beautiful, just as the varieties of a tough job to do, and most admirable lit-
butterflies are beautiful. No matter they need all the help erary stylists this
what your first language, you they can get from us. country has so far
should treasure it all your life. If it produced.
happens not to be standard En­ 7, Pity the readers You should realize,
glish, and if it shows itself when They have to too, that no one
you write standard English, the re­ identify thousands of would care how well
sult is usually delightful, like a very little marks on paper, or badly Mr. White
pretty girl with one eye that is and make sense of expressed himself,
green and one that is blue. them immediately. "Pick a subject you care so deeply about if he did not have
They have to read' an thar you'd speak an a soapbox about it." penect ·
...r I y enchantmg
I myself find that I trust my
own writing most, and others seem art so difficult that most people don't fl,Qttoh say.n
i gs
to trust it most, too, when I sound really master it even after having
most like a person from Indianapo­ studied it all through grade school
lis, which is what I am. What al­ and high school - twelve long years.
ternatives do I have? The one most
vehemently recommended by
teachers has no doubt been pressed
on you, as well: to write like
Years ago, International Paper sponsored a series of advertisements,
cultivated Englishmen of a century "Send me a man who reads;' to help make Americans more
or more ago.
aware of the value of reading.
Today, the printed word is more vital than ever. Now there
6. Say what you mean to say is more need than ever before for all of us to read better, write
I used to be exasperated by better, and communicate better. International Paper offers this new
such teachers, but am no more. I series in the hope that, even in a small way, we can help.
understand now that all those an­ For reprints of this advertisement, write: "Power of the
tique essays and stories with which Printed Word; International Paper Co., Dept. 5- , P.O. Box 900,
I was to compare my own work Elmsford, New York 10523.
/'ii:\
c,,., •N'ERNAnONAC""'C0V"'"'

were not magnificent for their dat­ INTERNATIONAL PAPER COMPANY

edness or foreignness, but for say­
ing precisely what their authors
W We believe in the power of the printed word.