4 things I've learnt about writing...from Steven Pinker
One of the best gifts I ever got, a gift that just keeps giving was this book I received at the end of one of my editorial internships almost 10 years ago. It's called The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century by Canadian cognitive psychologist and psycholinguist Steven Pinker. Catchy title, I know!
Now, I admit, it took me a while to actually get around to reading it. Why? I guess I stubbornly refused to read books about writing. It felt like reading about driving instead of actually learning to drive on the road. Another way to procrastinate doing. But I can say now – hand on heart – that this book has been if not life-changing then definitely career- and perspective-changing (thank you, Amy!! I owe you).
So I thought I'd go ahead and share some of the takeaways that have stuck with me throughout the years that might help you too in whatever it is that you do with words on a daily basis: be it cobbling together a PhD, a secret novel you're working on or just typing out your regular texts and emails. After all, we could all do with polishing up our words and communicating better. So here goes. Things are about to get pretty nerdy!
“A writer of classic prose must stimulate two experiences: showing the reader something in the world, and engaging her in conversation.”
So, I used to be terrified of using simple words. I felt like it made me look like I'm not trying, not putting enough effort or skill into my writing. I used to think that using big words and convoluted language made me sound smart and complicated (on paper and in real life). I have no idea why I aspired to be either because, in the end of the day, what matters is that people engage with your ideas and actually understand them. Simple. Pinker suggests using concrete imagery in writing that describes the real world and the people or objects in it – an elegant tool that invites the reader's gaze to follow your thoughts as if they’re observing a classic painting, where everything is in plain view. Think of academic writing. This is the opposite. Minimise abstractions. Use concrete language.
“…a writer must constantly reconcile the two sides of word order: a code for information and a sequence of mental events.”
It all boils down to the fact that the human mind can only ever do so many things at once. The order in which information comes in affects how it is processed. To paraphrase Pinker in my own philistine terms, do not get bogged down in filler words and always remember a sentence’s key protagonists: subject and predicate. What are you actually saying here, before you add all the embellishments? Following a left-to-right order is not as simple as it seems, especially when you love to go off on a tangent. This is the reason I hate reading Leo Tolstoy. I know, I know. “One of the greatest writers of all time” etc. etc. But for me the number of tangents Tolstoy takes in a single sentence is simply unbearable. I end up completely losing his point. I also know I'm guilty of doing the same.
“…the human mind cannot suspend disbelief in the truth or falsity of a statement and leave it hanging in logical limbo awaiting a ‘true’ or ‘false’ tag to be hung to it.”
Allow me to “translate”. When we read a negative statement or sentence that claims that something is not the case, we tend to cling onto the language that's being used. We simply can't help thinking about it. The example Pinker uses in the book is Bill Clinton’s attempt to put rumours to rest by declaring: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Sure enough he denied the allegations, but we all can't help thinking about what it is that he denied. According to Pinker, when we hear a false statement of this kind, we end up believing whatever is being denied at least for a moment. It’s just the way out brains work. So to avoid giving your reader more mental homework, try to avoid negative statements all together. Think The king is alive rather than The kind is not dead.
“If you know a word and then come across a similar one with a fancy prefix or suffix, resist the temptation to use it as a hoity-toity synonym.”
Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Ok, I'll stop now but honestly how many times have I done this in my life?! It's such an easy trap to fall into, especially as a non-native English speaker. Adverse and averse. Affect and effect. Simplistic and simple. You get the idea.
This is perhaps the nerdiest of Pinker’s books and, I’ll admit, I didn’t have the patience for all of the chapters in equal measure (oh, the irony for a book on writing well!) but if this floats your boat, Pinker is seriously excellent. His more recent book – Enlightenment Now – tackles the dire state of things we all think we live in by looking at the history of violence, wars and injustice in the world. The meticulously analysed stats are eye-opening. The book truly (and surprisingly) puts a more positive spin on the headlines of the recent years.
P.S This is a slightly new format for this newsletter, following my post on the new True Detective and Ripley series, where I choose to share my thoughts on or takeaways from popular culture. Generally it will remain geared towards topics covering wellbeing, creativity and motherhood but, as we're all dynamic and living beings, it is bound to go beyond and a bit wild from time to time to follow my interests.
I'd love to hear your feedback or thoughts in the comments, if this is something you'd like to see more or less of on here.