LinksTuesday, 5 July 2005 08:27 am
Clive James on the Art of Writing
Australian ex-pat writer/UK TV personality Clive James was on Andrew Denton’s Enough Rope (ABC TV) last night.
One of the choice quotes that came out of it and which I thought applies greatly to writers and bloggers alike was:
” … make it effortless for the reader. The reader, ideally, shouldn’t know that he or she is reading, it just should flow along.”
So the lesson is: brevity and the economic use of words are key to enjoyable reading; not verbal-diarrhoea. Something that I am guilty of at times. 
photo: ABC TV
3 Responses to “Clive James on the Art of Writing”
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I think the biggest mistake bloggers make is writing posts that are way too long. I might be able to handle a paragraph about how someone took their dog out for a walk, however I can’t handle a 2,000 word essay on it. If I have to scroll down to read one post I just exit the page.
Yes, know what you mean. Long diatribes with lots of meaningless pics are worse.
But it’s so tempting to go on and on… it’s my forum so i’ll rant if i want to…? Yeh, yeh, i know. More self-editing never goes astray. Uncle Clive makes a good point.