5 powerful writing tips from Narnia

Here are some great writing tips from a great writer: C. S. Lewis. With my commentary on how the tips can apply in fundraising writing.

1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else. Two ways to avoid this mistake: Read aloud and really hear yourself; have a non-expert read it and tell you what they think you mean.
   
2. Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them. You may need to evict your English teachers from your head.
   
3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “More people died” don’t say “Mortality rose.” Nonprofits are prone to this, using abstract words like hope, justice, and community. Imagine having to take a photo of the thing. If you can’t, you probably are using an abstractions.
   
4. Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was “terrible,” describe it so that we’ll be terrified. [Adjectives] are only like saying to your readers, “Please will you do my job for me.” Same with adverbs. (In fact, pretty much avoid adverbs.
   
5. Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. Also, many of those too-big words are abstractions you likely shouldn’t use at all.
   

Published in the book, C. S. Lewis’ Letters to Children.