Eight rules for good writing, submitted by
Gail Bulfin, training editor, Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale.

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Willis Johnson's eight rules for good writing

Willis Johnson's eight rules for good writing:

  1. Write only what is true, without exaggeration.
  2. Write only what is true in plain and honest language.
  3. Don't use words when you write that you wouldn't use when you speak.
  4. Remember you're not just passing on information, you're telling a story: Use drama.
  5. The story is everything. Nothing should go in that will take away from the story.
  6. All the stuff that you use should enhance your story.
  7. Read good writers to see how they do it. That's how you learn to use language: Cormac McCarthy, Knut Hamsun, Gunter Grasse, Kafka, Hermann Hesse, Sartre, Camus, Dostroyevsky and Halldor Laxness, author of "Independent People."
  8. Don't be afraid to fail. Try to use descriptions and if they don't work, it doesn't matter.

(Thank you Bob George and Willis Johnson - Gail Bulfin)