“I go through the text making sure I haven't used any big words. If I find any fancy adjectives have crept in, I replace them with small words like 'nice' and 'big'. I've liked these words ever since I was told not to use them in English class at school. After that, I check that the sentences are short so as people won't get confused and I shorten all the chapters so they won't get bored. I can't read anything complicated these days, my attention span is too short. Everyone else probably feels the same.” PeopleIfsFeelsI CanUseBigsSchoolUsedAttentionClassNiceHavensComplicatedSentencesChecksThese DaysBoredConfusedFancyChaptersToo ShortAdjectivesAttention SpanEnglish ClassSmall Words Author:Martin Millar
“When I was kid, they always used to tell me to keep notebooks. I look at my shelves now and it's just nothing but notebooks. And if I haven't gotten an idea but I have time to work, I'll pull one out and I bet there will be five or six sentences that will kick me off.” IfsLooksIdeasKidsUsedFiveHavensSixSentencesKicksShelvesNotebook Author:John Darnielle
“Stammering is different than stuttering. Stutterers have trouble with the letters, while stammerers trip over entire parts of a sentence. We stammerers generally think of ourselves as very bright. My own private theory is that stammerers have so many ideas swirling around their brains at once that they can't get them all out, though I haven't found any scientific evidence to back that up.” ThinkingIdeasDifferentFoundMy OwnBrainTroubleHavensTheoryEvidenceLettersSentencesStutteringScientific EvidenceStammering Author:Bob Newhart
“Joyce's writing in Dubliners contains some of the most unshowily beautiful sentences in the English language. I learned from him that if you write a good, clean line of English, you can get under a reader's skin. The reader won't even know why, but there you are. Didion, Berger, the many others I mentioned above, and many, many poets I haven't mentioned. Writers of this calibre are the moving targets the rest of us are always chasing.” IfsKnowsWritingBeautifulMovingLanguageLinesHavensPoetReaderSkinsCleanSentencesTargetChasingEnglish LanguageJoyce Author:Teju Cole