English novelist and journalist George Orwell, one of the finer writers in the English language through such novels as 1984 and Animal Farm, was passionate about good writing. Hence, copywriters — for both print and websites — can learn a lot from him.
Reportedly, in every sentence he wrote, he asked himself at least four questions:
- 1. What am I trying to say?
- 2. What words will express it?
- 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer?
- 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
Plus, he had fundamental rules for effective writing, which decades later, still apply:
- 1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech, which you are used to seeing in print.
- 2. Never us a long word where a short one will do.
- 3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
- 4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
- 5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
- 6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
George Orwell, even after all these years, still has influence on writers, even on websites. That’s cool!