Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-07-28
Old Advice For New Writers.

Take for your motto: Whoever car
think and speak well can also write
we'll.
Make crisp, concise sentences.
Simplicity is the first charm of good
style. In writing cut out all the
''fine' or ''fowery'' passages.
Use short, every day words, if they
will clearly express your meaning.
Do not say: She attempted to attract
the attention of an assembly of juve-
niles by the recital of small collec-
ton of anecdotes, when you mean
that She tried to amuse the children
by telling them stories.
Be careful of the arrangement of
your sentences and the words in
them, and thus avoid ridiculous, and
often serious, mistakes. Do not say,
for instance. Wanted, an expert
enced nurse TO take care of a child
thirty or forty years of age.
Cultivate the habit of writing as
you would talk. Call red red not
ruby; speak of the green field, not
the emerald field.
Avoid tautology. Do not write:
The traveller, tired and weary with
his journey, lay down to rest.
Avoid redundancy. Do not say:
Another old veteran has departed.
Avoid the unnecessary use of con-
nectives. Only bad writer would
say: went to see her and spend the
afternoon, and stay to tea and spend
the evening, and have her go home
with me and stay all night.
In regard to subjects, write of
something with which you are famil-
lar, or with which you can become
familiar by careful study. For in
stance, you may tell of your success
with pansles, or read up the subject
'Sponges, to make an interesting
account for children. 1t is said: A
mans best things lie nearest him.
You are apt to imagine that nothing
less than trip to the Pacific coast
will furnish suitable material for a
good article. The four leaved clover
grows at your doorstep. Make the
most of your small opportunities
while you are on the lookout for larg-
er openings.
After selection, plunge at once into
your subject; be sure you strike a
keynote OF the outset to which you
may return at the close, and thus Sc
cure complete, harmonious whole.
Be interested in your topic if you
expect to interest others. Become
thoroughly saturated with your sub
ject before putting pen to paper.
Fully half of the work may be done
in the mind before producing visible
results. With the subject held in
mind, even desultory reading will dis
close similar ideas that would other
wise be unnoted.
Throughout your article show a
reserve strength indicating that you
could say more if you would. A study
of good literature will show how this
can be done.
An earnest writer anxious to sue
coed cannot afford to read trashy lit
erature, even for recreation. Spend
all surplus moments in the study of
noted authors. The society of Guilt
waited people will also prove beneficial.
To enlarge your vocabulary, look
up the definition of every unfamiliar
word you may chance upon in your
reading.
Avoid exuberance in writing. Re-
member to be natural.
Have an object in your essay. Give
the reader fun, or information, or
help in some way; especially some
thing that is alive.
Do not attempt too much in one
article. Never appear to preach.
Be practical, even commonplace.
There is very little demand for alb
stract or fowery literature.
Finally, be brief. Condense, cut
out every superfuous word or SEN
tence.