Pinker and me.

As someone who likes writing, but is constantly nervous about how it is going to come across to the general public, Steven Pinker's lecture made a lot of sense to me. As if that wasn't enough, it also put me at ease. Listening to someone talk about the simplicities of writing, and how it doesn't have to be lengthy and cryptic to get a point across is like a huge sigh of relief. The fact that I don't need to bog down my work and make it a treasure hunt for my readers, and instead look at it as something to share with the general public is not an idea I'm used to. In all of my classes before this, it was always better to have more. More words, more pages, more round about ideas that slide around the topic but never fully engage with it. For me to hear that Pinker, a distinguished scholar in his field, finds that this classist way we think of writing absurd is a huge weight off my chest.

Pinker much prefers what he calls the 'classic method'. This style of writing is seen as a way to engage the audience, and open the world up to them. It is designed to be accessible, instead of blocking those seemingly 'unworthy' out. He breaks down this idea that in order to be academic you have to confuse everyone and make it difficult to read. Getting to the point is what the writer should be doing.

I myself have been a culprit of this type of writing, not because I wanted to confuse my readers, but because it is what I was taught to be the correct way of writing for the academics of the world. My teachers and professors told me that if I wanted to be considered a educated person, I had to make my work similar to those already published. While watching the lecture it was hard not to be brought back to my high school english class, reading the pieces Pinker was using as bad examples.  Long descriptions also happen to fill up a page, and when you're writing for length and not quality content it's easy to fall into this chasm.

This trend of unneeded long descriptions can also be found in my work outside of class. Looking over pieces I wrote for pleasure, or to give to a close friend, have evidence of mile long sentences that could be condensed into a few simple words. It's painful to read some of my older works, and I found myself cringing at my computer screen yesterday while trying to find examples of old writings that wouldn't be too embarrassing.

Writing is always evolving and changing. The more you write and the more you learn, the better you can get. I'm sure by the time Writing with Style ends, I'll be cringing reading this over again. But that's what you have to do to improve.