I ran across a bit of writing advice from C.S. Lewis, from letters he wrote in the 1950s:
Advice to a Young Writer – The C.S. Lewis Official Substack
1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.
2. Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them.
3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “more people died,” don’t say “mortality rose.” …
Click through to the full list to see what resonates. Some of these work for me, some don’t (some days background music is very helpful!), but I find them all interesting as ways to think about how to do better as a writer.
I came to this site for the writing link, but also stumbled across an interesting discussion between Stephen Colbert and Greta Gerwig, who talks about her new adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew. This was never my favorite Narnia book, but maybe that will change? Her take on Barbie was an unexpected pleasure, and I look forward to seeing how she reinvents this Lewis story.
Greta Gerwig on The Magician’s Nephew
She talks about when she first encountered the books, how she tapped into C.S. Lewis’s creative instincts, and how she brought his rich imagery to life on the big screen.
Enjoy!
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