Do You Follow Your Own Rules?

In a previous entry, I gave the advice of writing short sentences. I said, "No matter how much you might think about it, talk about it, even discuss or argue with it, the easiest and fastest way to find out if it's good advice is to try using shorter sentences." So, the sentence that tells people to use short sentences is 36 words long (well above my recommended 15 words).

It looks like I'm breaking my own rules. This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, though. I have found many writers who come up with lovely, elaborate systems for writing, and proceed to ignore them and wing it.

I have found that when an author doesn't follow his or her own rules, there are two possible reasons. One is that the reality of the rule is more complicated than the simple version that the author says. The other is that the author is a lousy writer. Since I'm sure that I'm not a lousy writer, then my rule must be more complicated.

In fact, I already am aware of that. That's why my exact advice is to "use shorter sentences more than long ones." Long sentences have their place in writing. They can add to the music of the writing. They can build up into a significant point. They can break the monotony of seeing too many short sentences all in a row.

The problem with long sentences is that they are heavy. Too many will drag writing to a halt. They're wonderful flourishes, but the meat of writing needs to be shorter and easily digested.

Of course, it is a lot easier to just tell people to use short sentences. It's mostly true and far shorter than giving the full explanation. It's just that mostly true isn't completely true.

If you have rules or standards or advice for writing, use them on yourself. If your writing doesn’t follow your own rules, either your writing is lacking or your rules are missing some fine details.