Five Tips for Good Writing from C.S. Lewis
June 2, 2008 · Print This Article
I just saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the second film in the movie series based on C.S. Lewis’ seven fantasy novels of the same name. Though he is well-known, for those of you who aren’t that familiar with Lewis, here’s a quick snapshot:
C.S. Lewis (1898–1963) was an Irishman and an English professor at Oxford University, where he became a close friend of J.R.R. Tolkien. Lewis wroteThe Problem of Pain and Mere Christianity, among many other books. His “works have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold more than a million copies per year. The books that comprise The Chronicles of Narnia have sold more than 100 million copies,” according to Wikipedia.
Why Lewis Is So Good
C.S. Lewis is probably my favorite writer of all time. He was a very versatile writer–he wrote theology, poetry, literature, fantasy (both adult and children’s), apologetics, cultural analysis, devotional, and autobiographical.
His ability to combine razor-sharp intellectual insight with a deep, visionary imagination draws me in.
John Piper explains Lewis’ genius this way:
“[Lewis] demonstrated for me and convinced me that rigorous, precise, penetrating logic is not inimical to deep, soul-stirring feeling and vivid, lively, even playful imagination. He was a ‘romantic rationalist.’”
The Chronicles of Narnia was written for children and the movies are also marketed to kids, but as an adult, I’ve really enjoyed the two Narnia movies that Disney has made so far, and am looking forward to seeing the rest of the novels adapted to film as well.
I encourage all of you to go see the The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian while it’s still showing widely in theaters. Being transported into the highly scenic natural Narnian landscape is a nice escape,
C.S. Lewis’ Five Tips for Good Writing
While you’re checking out the show times for the film at your local theater, I’d like to share five tips on clear writing that Lewis gave to children–like the Narnia series, though, this writing advice is beneficial to adults as well.
Herewith (HT to Piper for this):
- Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.
- Always prefer the clean direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them.
- Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “More people died” don’t say “Mortality rose.”
- In writing, don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the things you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us the thing is “terrible,” describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was “delightful”; make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers “Please, will you do my job for me.”
- Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. [bold emphasis mine]
For more information on C.S. Lewis check out Into the Wardrobe and for more information about the Chronicles of Narnia movie series, check out NarniaWeb.
Wow, things are looking fantabulous around here! Way to go, Jesse! What a shocker, considering I hadn’t visited in a while.
Very professional….
Michele’s last blog post..Guest Post - Motivation to Write: Is There a Magic Formula?
Anyone with a proper appreciation of Lewis is a writer worth reading. Thanks for the post!
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Michele,
Thanks. I really do like the new look, courtesy of Men with Pens.
Jason,
You’re welcome. Yeah, I love Lewis.
Great post over on Copyblogger - I use those all the time but didn’t know they had names! Excellent blog here too, I have added you to my Google Reader. I’ll try and employ some of your tips in the entry I am working on right now for my blog. Keep up the great work here.
Cheers,
Daniel Smith
Smithereens Blog
Daniel Smith’s last blog post..Four Minutes to Save the World
This is a very useful post, but not infinitely so. My favorite part is: “Please, will you do my job for me.” That’s such a great way of explaining this concept. I’ll keep reminding myself of this!
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@Daniel,
Thanks for the kind words.
Yeah, a lot of people do actually use those modifiers without ever knowing they’re employing a “technique.” It’s still sometimes hard for me to know which type of modifier I’m using–I like to mix them up.
Thanks for subscribing.
@Bamboo,
Yes, that is a great quote.
Everyone is complimenting the new site, which I like too, but I never saw the old one so I feel my $0.2 on that subject is a bit irrelevant.
Regarding Lewis, however, (long may writers speak his praises) I am glad for the movies because new people are meeting our friend Clives. (Kind of like me “meeting” you from your post on Write to Done, which I followed here.)
Pardon my ramble.
Yay for Lewis. Hurrah for writers who appreciate his style.
@ Jesse: Hope you don’t mind me chiming in!
@ Annie: Here’s a link to the old site: (http://www.vigorouswriting.net/), which was sort of like a cheap, first apartment. This site compared to that one? A castle loaded with amenities–you know, granite counters, hardwood floors, inground pool… All the nice stuff!
@ Jessie: I only mean that about the site designs. You still have the same awesome content!
And… kudos to Men with Pens!
*smiles*
Michele
Michele’s last blog post..Guest Post - Motivation to Write: Is There a Magic Formula?
This site is solid, but it could be better if the blogosphere accepted Joomla! It is the best open source program available.
The old site was great. All he did was write.
I just can’t wait for mobile writing.
Keep up the excellent work Jesse. You keep me going when my peers say my writing is horrible.
@Annie ,
Hey, welcome aboard. I second the yay for Lewis.
@Michele,
Interesting way of contrasting the two blog designs. And, you’re always welcome to chime in. Thanks for doing so.
@Writer4Life,
Don’t tons of people mobile write already–text messaging and IM?
[...] Five Tips for Good Writing from C.S. Lewis: “Always prefer the clean direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them.” [...]
[...] that I attribute where I discovered this gem, please refer to the Robust Writing blog. I love this blog. I love these tips from C.S. [...]
Thanks for the killer Tips! I’m sure I can learn a thing or two from this. It is amazing how easily we can overlook simple things until someone points ‘em out… Cheers! Nadeesha.
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ROCKFUSE,
You’re welcome.
Sometimes the simplest things are the best things.