Explaining Difficult Things, page 13

Becoming a good stylist, continued

Style does matter. If you follow these suggestions, over time you will come to possess mastery over style.

I’ll leave the last words on style to William Strunk and E. B. White from The Elements of Style:

Style takes its final shape more from attitudes of mind than from principles of composition, for, as an elderly practitioner once remarked, “Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.” This moral observation would have no place in a rule book were it no that style is the writer, and therefore what you are, rather than what you know, will at last determine your style.

Are We Clear Yet?

Descriptive writing is hard work.

It requires clarity.

Every detail counts.

You must understand what your subject looks like. You may need to know how it works, how it changes over time, and what the ideas behind it are.

There is no place for laziness in explanation and description.

The discussion in this chapter, and the Stretch Your Brain exercises, should help understand how to describe many views of your subject. These include:

• How to circle around your subject

• How to develop a grammar and taxonomy that explains your subject and its relationships

• How to work in a style that helps rather then hinders your purpose.

Just remember: being understood is what counts.

Continued next page

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