“A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying to say? 2. What words will express it? 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer? 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?” ― George Orwell, Politics and the English Language I'm really trying hard to apply this. Simple rules, difficult to follow.
Man, if I followed this for every sentence I write, I would never get finished with my books. . Is it okay to it in post, when i'm in the rewrite/edit phase.
5. Can we do without it? (saves time when editing later ) But yeah, those sum it up perfectly. Thanx for posting They are not that difficult to follow if you leave them for later. I mean, when writing the first draft you don't need to restrict yourself. Now that we use computers and not typewriters, deleting and changing the text has become so much easier. You could just put the story onto words first, use whatever words and expressions come to mind first. And only on second draft you can slow down and look at the individual words, sentences and paragraphs, and start asking those questions - what is that scene about, what actions need to be described, what are the best words to use, can we insert a clever idiom or a metaphor here or there, have I read that somewhere else before (and can I give it a twist) etc.
It's interesting he writes "What words will express it" rather than "What words will best express it", but does make that distinction when talking about images. It chimes with my impression of his writing: imaginative, with unfussy prose.
