Chronicles of Narnia & Writing Skills

This story is inspired by an article that ran at Intellectual Takeout.

Question: What percent of todays 8th to 12th grade students are proficient at writing?

Answer is….~27%

C.S. Lewis is recognized as the writer of The Chronicles of Narnia along with a number of other books. The story goes that he received a letter from a young girl with some examples of her writing asking for his comments. In his praise he offered some five (5) suggestions:

1) Strive for Clarity

“Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure y[ou]r sentence couldn’t mean anything else.”

2. Use Plain and Direct Language

“Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them.”

3. Be Practical, Not Philosophical

“Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean ‘More people died’ don’t say ‘Mortality rose.’”

4. Show, Don’t Tell

“In writing. Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was ‘terrible,’ describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was ‘delightful’; make us say ‘delightful’ when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers ‘Please will you do my job for me.’”

5. Keep it Simple

“Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very’; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.”

In today’s computer age where we no longer teach cursive writing; where we teach students to type and not learn; where we talk about the 21st Century skills needed to succeed we fail in the most basic responsibilities. The ability to write proficiently is one of the keys to success in life. Contact your local school board and district and DEMAND they focus on basic skills and deliver young adults who can communicate.

Writing doesn’t need new fangled systems and tools. It just requires practice coupled with good teachers.

Aslan would be proud.