Tuesday, 21 August 2007
Legal Writing and Hemingway -- Writing Tips
Copyblogger gives Hemingway's top five tips for writing well.  Suprisingly (or maybe not) the tips should also improve legal writing.  First, use short sentences.  Second, use short first paragraphs.  Third, use vigorous English.  Fourth, be positive, not negative.  Copyblogger says that Hemingway had only four rules, but he found a fifth that may be most important of all, especially to legal writing. 

“I write one page of masterpiece to ninety one pages of shit,” Hemingway confided to F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1934. “I try to put the shit in the wastebasket.”

Very good advice! 

Tomorrow, tips from George Orwell. 
Posted on 7:56 AM by susan
Comments
27 Sep 2007
Send an emailLawline.com
I think that last quote is a great tip for anyone trying to write.  Know yourself, know what is good and don't lie to yourself.  A truly great writer will know when something is trash, and when something is brilliant and print-worthy.  Check out online cle lectures on legal writing at Lawline.com.