Councel for Authors

Note: this little tongue-in-cheek listicle comes from the March 1916 Issue of Writer’s Monthly. I think it’s funny how writing teachers have been giving similar advice for well over 100 years. And still no one listens.

By Karl Von Kraft

Impropper spelling mars many a good page.

Cut the slang business, it sounds punk.

Too much, punctuation, is worse than none, at all.

It is a very bad practice to use italics frequently.

It is bad form to needlessly split an infinitive.

Sesquepedalian verbiage should be relegated to the paleolithic era.

A preposition is usually an awkward word to end a sentence with.

Long, experienced authors use a hyphen to connect compound words.

A modifying phrase misplaced by the reader is often misunderstood.

The use of needless words is not only wasteful but also unnecessary as well.

Quotations to memory dear are more honored in the breach than in the observance.

Alas! readers are often bored by the sight of many exclamation points in the modern magazine!

Many writers seem to regard a foreign bon mot as a pièce de resistance, when really it is de trop.

Never give advice to writers; they make their living by giving advice to others.

More vintage writing articles can be found on the Writing Tips from the Pulp Era page.