This week, I'm guest blogging again for weareOCA.com, the blog for all artists and writers concerned with learning with the Open College of the Arts. I'm a writer, tutor and assessor for the OCA, and love its deep commitment to engaging with people of all ages and backgrounds, who want to improve and connect with artistic endeavour, including painting and drawing, photography, music and creative writing, as well as things like art history.
Ironically, writers do not necessarily find simplicity easy to attain. First drafts often result in spontaneous explosions of writing which feel very good to get down on paper, but perhaps disappoint when you read them through. You have probably repeated yourself unnecessarily or written in an overblown way; you may even find the dreaded ‘purple passages’ – darlings that need to be murdered.
This week on the blog, I'm looking at the four basics for good, strong writing as laid down in the very first of the creative writing courses most students do:
• simplicity
• economy (or brevity)
• clarity
• accuracy
But I've discovered that there is a fifth fellow, who belongs in
this list and it's that one I want to talk about... Click Here to read the entire blogpost on the OCA BLOG, weareOCA.com