Mark Twain on Writing

"We write frankly and fearlessly but then we 'modify' before we print."

This is almost just a different way of stating to think what you want but watch what you say. Everybody has their own thoughts and judgements of other ideas or other people, however we watch what we say so we don't sound inconsiderate or rude. For example, if I think somebody's clothes are hideous, I'm obviously not going to verbalize that. If I did, I may say something like "oh, that's...different". It's an example of how I would "modify".

When writing papers, we "modify" what we've created by proofreading; making sure evry sentence appears as it should. When blogging we might feel more comfortable putting down what's on our minds but knowing it or not, we subconsciously censor what we say.

"I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English-it is the modern way and the best way. stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly ,but kill most of them-the the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of it as any other vice."

Mark Twain suggests that writing should be in its simplest form. According to him, it's the best way to write. It is a good thing to keep writing simple; it allows the reader to understand what the writer has to say the first time, as opposed to having to read it over and over again. By the time the reader understands what the writer has to say, he or she would have lost interest. The point of writing is to get a point across, or some kind of idea. There's no point in burying meaning under layers of useless adjectives and excess words.

Adjectives are used in description, and of course it's more striking when there are only a few, as opposed to having one adjective on top of another. Applying the theory to blogging, it would make people's blogs so much easier to read.