Saturday, March 30, 2013

Eschew Fuliginous Prose

Always a good reminder when writing anything - fiction or nonfiction. Just say what you mean.

But this opening sentence in an AP press story had my wife and I scratching our heads. Our respective heads, just to be clear.

Authorities in southeastern Tennessee are searching for a man who was thrown from an experimental aircraft while he was learning to fly from an instructor.

Or this one from World Wide Words (the owner sends out a great weekly newsletter):

• A Daily Mail online article dated 25 March reported the sale of an engagement ring that had been given by Napoleon to Josephine. Peter Watts found this sentence in it: “Her first husband, Alexandre, had been beheaded following the French Revolution and within a few years had become Napoleon’s mistress.” 

Fun. At any rate, this post was simply a gentle warning to all you writers out there. Please obviate obfuscation.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Keep it clean and positive. (And sorry about the word verification, but the spmb*ts are out in full force!)