how should we not write?

[cacian]

I read somewhere one should not write to impress.
I wondered why not.
In life we press not we tolerate so isn't writing about everything else? impressions count and so does impressive.

[hannah_arendt]

We should impress I think. We should try to use all the possible ways of expressing ourselves clearly, without offencing anyone. English gives a lot of possibilities in my opinion and is widely widespreaded in the world. We could call it a contemporary Latin even. Once I read that it represents the culture of word.

[cacian]

We should impress I think. We should try to use all the possible ways of expressing ourselves clearly, without offencing anyone. English gives a lot of possibilities in my opinion and is widely widespreaded in the world. We could call it a contemporary Latin even. Once I read that it represents the culture of word.

That is an interesting expression. English representing the culture of the word. It sounds pretty spot on if I may say so myself. :)

[hannah_arendt]

I think that, without underestimating any other language, English gives more possibilities than for example Polish. I like writing in Spanish too.

[Scheherazade]

Writing intelligibly is a good starting point, I believe.

[Shaman_Raman]

Frankly, I'm surprised Cacian. I just read you saying on another thread how you don't like to write within traditional rules or confines of literature. But writing to impress would require one to adhere to those rules, at least the way I see it.

But I think what you may have seen was someone critiquing another's work, with the advise to stop trying to sound impressive. This is because when we try too hard to show others how sophisticated we are, we ironically lose any essence, point, idea, or meaning to our writing. At the end of the day, writing is just like any other form of art: self-expression. Your conveying yourself, but if your self image is blown up and arrogant, your only real motive will be to show the world how great you are, or impress.

Thus, shallow motives will never have real depth.

[PeterL]

Writing is a means of communication, and communication should work both ways, if it is to be successful. The write should write in a way that will communicate to the reader what the writer intends to communicate. "Impress"? Well, we want to impress readers with what we wish to communicate.

Then there's the matter of tailoring writing to the intended audience. You wouldn't write the same way for seconder graders as you would for twenty year olds or for forty year olds. If one is writing instructions for a vacuum cleaner, then one writes simply and clearly. If one is writing a description of what is involved in writing, then one writes in compound-complex sentences that are built with words that fit.

[cafolini]

Fortune cookie says: next full moon brings enchanting impressions.
ROFLMAO!!

[Delta40]

I just read all this in another thread except Cacian said what Hannah did and Peter didn't say 'seconder graders' De ja vu....parallel threadiverse. Help me :sick: