Day 273: A good style is transparent to the reader.

A good style should show no signs of effort. What is written should seem a happy accident.
(W. Somerset Maugham)

Good writing takes effort. Let there be no doubt about that. (Remember the quote from Hawthorne? “Easy reading is damned hard writing.”) The effort is there, but from the reader’s perspective, the effort is not visible, which is to say that the writing seems like natural speech. It is not awkward but fluent—regardless of the writer’s style.

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I espouse the strategy of reading aloud. When you are reading aloud, consider whether the text seems like natural speech or seems forced or convoluted. Each sentence on which you need to pause and consider the meaning needs revision. When you find yourself mixing or missing words when reading aloud, you have found another sentence to revise. When your text causes you to stop and start over, the text needs to be reworked.

Writers have many styles. According to Maugham, however, you can divide the “good” styles from “not-good” styles by the degree to which the writing is transparent and the message is clear. As you read aloud your own text, ask yourself this central question: “Does this sound natural?”