In his book If I Can Write, You Can Write, Charlie Shedd gives his readers an assignment. He asks them to write three paragraphs on a topic. It’s worthwhile homework if you don’t have something written already.
Rather than give you the same assignment, I want you to take something you have written already. Critique your work by applying these six self-editing rules.
Rule # 1 – Keep sentences at 15 words or less.
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Rule # 2 – Avoid using the same word twice in any sentence.
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Rule # 3 – Choose only one adjective.
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Rule # 4 – Limit yourself to two commas per sentence.
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Rule # 5 – Write like you speak.
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Rule # 6 – Avoid stating the obvious.
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Exceptions
Knowing these rules gives you the power to break them effectively, as Viktor Frankl does in this powerful piece of writing.
We were at work in the trench. The dawn was gray around us; gray was the sky above; gray was the snow in the pale light of dawn; gray the rags in which my fellow prisoners were clad, and gray their faces.
His sentence exceeds 15 words. He repeats the word ‘gray’ 5 times. He uses more than one adjective in a row. Yet the writing remains effective. Why? He uses the obvious as a potent metaphor for the hopelessness felt by those trapped in Hitler’s death machine.
Shedd says it well:
Every rule is to be broken! But before I break the rules, I must know what rules I’m breaking.
