Williams appears to suggest, is not about rules and regulations. It is about getting a message across to your reader.Last, I would recommend a book that will provide you with a far different tone than the others. On Writing, by Stephen King, will take the tools given to you by the other writers and show you how to use them. The reader might find this last book to be almost a guide for some of the concepts provided in The Elements of Style. King will even discuss a number of the rules that Strunk & White presented and show you how to use them to make your own writing, and especially your story, a more honest, powerful piece.I have told you a little of what’s in these books. Now why should you read them? In The Elements of Style one of the first rules you will learn that may catch your attention may even be one you have heard before. “[Rule] 17. Omit Needles Words.” (Strunk & White, 23). What could be simpler and yet more complex than that? It certainly sounds simple at first, until the writer looks at his first draft and begins to ponder the meaning of “needless”.Here is where Williams comes in. He attempts to explain what words might be “needless” by using an example sentence in need of revising, and then showing the reader how it might be revised and explaining why. In the first chapter, he explains that the book is about clarity. Williams seems to be stressing that writing is not about the rules. Instead, it is about being understood. A writer has not done their job if the reader does not understand what is being said.This is a book about writing clearly. I wish it could be short and simple like some others more widely known, but I want to do more than just urge writers to “Omit Needless Words” or “Be clear.” Telling me to “Be clear” is like telling me to “Hit the ball squarely.” I know that. What I don’t know is how to ...
