# “Writing advice for children” by C.S. Lewis

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2009/12/14/writing-advice-for-children-by-c-s-lewis/
- Published: 2009-12-14T12:20:56-06:00
- Author: tollelege

“What really matter is:

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.

2. Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t _implement 
_promises, but keep them.

3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean ‘More people
died’ don’t say ‘Mortality rose.’

4. In writing, 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. Don’t say it was ‘delightful’;
make us say ‘delightful’ when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words(
horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers:‘
Please will you do my job for me.’

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_.

With love,

C.S. Lewis.”

–C.S. Lewis, _[C.S. Lewis’ Letters to Children](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0684823721?tag=toletaupanre-20)_(
New York: Touchstone, 1995), 64. In this letter written on June 26, 1956, Lewis 
was responding to a child who wanted advice about writing.

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## Comments

### By: Deriq

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2009/12/14/writing-advice-for-children-by-c-s-lewis/comment-page-1/#comment-5923
- Published: 2012-11-14T12:40:38-06:00

well learned