Make It "Writerly"

One secret is to write, as a Sol Stein calls it, in a writerly way. (See Stein's How to Grow a Novel.) In chapter four, the one on “Seeing the Details,” he gives examples of what he means. A beginner might settle for the cliché such as “Clothes don’t make the man.” A much more interesting, writerly way to say it is “The important creases are in the brain, not in the pants.”

Sol Stein states that the (good) writer reaches a little deeper than the obvious. Say it your way, not like Mark Twain might have. You owe it to the reader to be amusing, entertaining, and interesting.

And why not be brief? Bye.