Introduction
I’ll be honest, I don’t really know why I started a blog… this late, that is. I really should have done this earlier, but couldn’t bring myself to do so for some reason. Maybe it’s because I’ve never been good with personal commitments. I can’t handle the expectations of having to churn out blog posts. I can never seem to satisfy my high standards. I’ve struggled with perfectionism, and that’s precisely why I feel like I’m missing out on so much. So I’ve decided to change that.
I think I’ve always had some inclination towards writing, but haven’t really acted on it since middle school. I remember actually writing fictional stories in my free time, which sounds crazy nowadays. I still have two of those pieces sitting my Google Drive1. They seem like remnants of a bygone era, before I got sucked into the world of video games and lost my sense of autonomy. I wonder what would have been had I kept up with writing this entire time. Would I have been able to eloquently and effortlessly express my thoughts? Of course, I’m not really sure if I actually dreamt of being an author at any point; I think it was just a phase after reading Eragon and Holes. I’m surprised that I even still remember which books I was inspired by. Or maybe that sort of inspiration is precisely what creates future authors. Regardless, I feel some sort of obligation to myself and my readers (hello!) to write with some semblance of competency.
I remember reading Kazuo Ishiguro for one of my classes in high school and having to write in his style for one of my assignments. I didn’t do his writing any justice with my poor imitation, but it made me appreciate the elegance of his writing. I also remember writing another piece that earned an ‘A’ and having to read it aloud in front of the class. I wish I could share my failed attempt, but unfortunately didn’t have the foresight of downloading my work and lost everything when my school email was deleted. Or maybe I didn’t save anything because I just wanted to leave the bad memories of high school behind2. I really don’t remember anymore.
Improving My Writing
As I’ve been toiling through blog post drafts, I can’t help but feel unsatisfied with my writing. Maybe it’s a sort of imposter syndrome, but it just doesn’t feel as well-written as other text I read on a daily basis. I wish I could publish post after post because I genuinely enjoy writing these, but I end up spending so much time iterating and revising because I don’t feel like I’m writing effectively. I’m not exactly sure what’s missing, but I do have this desire to refine this craft until I get to a point where I’m (mostly) satisfied. Having remembered purchasing William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White’s The Elements of Style for one of my classes, I began searching around for my copy that had remained unused for several years. Although there is some controversy surrounding the effectiveness of the tips provided in the book but, having skimmed through the book, I have found the tips reasonable and would like to provide an overview of them.
Also, this post is a bit more casual and doesn’t involve much revising because I want to actually apply the tips from The Elements of Style onto the post itself.
Tips & Tricks from The Elements of Style
WIP: The plan is to go through the book and update this post incrementallyI. Elementary Rules of Usage
Covers punctuation and phrasing.
Reminder 3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas.
Reminder 4. Place a comma before a conjunction introducing an independent clause.
Reminder 8. Use a dash to set off an abrupt break or interruption and to announce a long appositive or summary.
II. Elementary Principles of Composition
Pointers about the writing itself
Reminder 14. Use the active voice.
I’m definitely guilty of using passive voice too often. I remember writing assignments for a class where I could not use any form of “to be.”
Reminder 15. Put statements in positive form.
“…it is better to express even a negative in positive form.”
Reminder 16. Use definite, specific, concrete language.
Reminder 17. Omit needless words.
Reminder 18. Avoid a succession of loose sentences.
Reminder 19. Express coordinate ideas in similar form.
Reminder 20. Keep related words together.
Reminder 22. Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end.
III. A Few Matters of Form
Writing form including exclamations, hyphens, parentheses, etc.
IV. Words and Expressions Commonly Misused
The title says it all
V. An Approach to Style
According to the Introduction, this chapter was later added and serves those who wish to pursue writing.