What are others saying?
27 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
Rule #17 – Omit needless words. This is one I struggle with. I found much of the same advice in Stephen King’s On Writing,and I still have a tendency to toss completely unnecessary adverbs into my prose. I can’t, however, agree with Megan on the striking of this rule for academic papers. I know going in that I’m going to be cutting ~30% of my work in the final editing, so I also know that to come up with 1,500 quality words, I’ll need about 2,150 before I begin that edit. Sometimes I cut a little more; sometimes I cut a little less. Regardless, I don’t think it’s ever a good idea to fill up a word count with words that don’t contribute. No one likes having to carry the dead weight on a team, and I believe that should apply to my writing, as well. All those nouns, adjectives, and correctly conjugated verbs just resent the adverbs and it’s a big, ugly mess. – Tracey
I also have this trouble with words. Many of the words that I use are simply place-holders. It is interesting to read this now because I just read a lecture by Gertrude Stein, and she discussed each part of a sentence and what she liked about it. She hates nouns because they don’t do anything active, but she loves verbs because they act and they can always be mistaken. She goes on to talk about adverbs and adjectives, and it is a really interesting read if you want to look at it from a different perspective. I agree with you that with all these things our paragraphs can become messy, but I do think that it makes editing interesting and fun. Even though it becomes tedious, it’s fun to take words out and wonder why you even had that word in there. 
I almost got defensive during some parts of Strunk and White’s guide because it seemed as if it was a book written by a know it all. I understand that there are rules and principles, but as a growing writer, I at times wanted to throw the book across the room. I found myself critiquing my writing so heavily that I wondered if I should even be an English Major. I had to take a step back from the reading, and realize that as a writer, there is always room for improvement. I went from frustration with my own writing, to realizing that anyone can write a guide for writing if you know the elements. Whether or not you can apply them to your writing is another thing. After realizing that this was just a guide, filled with suggestions, I was able to look at “The Elements of Style” as a reference and not as an ultimate goal as writer. – Allison
Haha, it’s funny that you mentioned this, because I also got very frustrated with this book. It seemed as though much of it was stuff I already knew, and I didn’t like hearing it again from someone who thought they knew it all. I do believe that it is important though to read through many guides and lectures. It’s great to get an idea from other writers about what kinds of elements they use. Usually this leads to new insights and inspirations–always helpful as a growing writer!
I try and get my point right across and fill in after the statement is on the page, but this tool suggests to place the empathetic words at the end. This way you are keeping the reader engaged in what you are writng about and they are forced to keep reading so they can figure out how you are going to end the sentances. – Kristyn
I enjoyed this tool that you mention, because I’ve begin to notice it in books that I read. It is a very helpful tool in keeping the reader’s attention, and it is interesting to try in my own writing. I think keeping the reader engaged is a very important aspect of any good piece of writing, and I liked that you mentioned this in your first impressions, because it also stuck out to me. 
