The Writing Process

By: David Tuffley

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The Writing Process is a practical, plain English guide for people who are not experienced writers of non-technical prose.

By diligently applying the principles outlined here, you will extend your writing capability towards a professional level. The examples in this eBook relate to computer user manuals, however the principles apply to all kinds of non-technical writing. Clear, easy-to-understand writing can be achieved by following the simple principles outlined here. While these principles can be simply expressed, it can take a lifetime of effort fully master them. Not to worry though, the sooner you start, the sooner you will notice an improvement. A note about simplicity; the Physicist Albert Einstein once famously observed that the greater the truth, the more simply it can be expressed. His formula E = mc2 illustrates the point. You know you have achieved mastery over a subject when you are able to explain it in really simple terms. This simplicity is not easily arrived at, it requires more effort than leaving the explanation in its complex form.
Being a good writer has much to do with always making the effort to simplify rather than taking the easy way and leaving it complex. George Orwell was a consummate writer. What he learned over many years of hard work he distilled into an essential few points, very simply expressed but very powerful in their application. This eBook is a summary of Orwell’s principles of clear writing. I have been making a living as a writer since the early 1990’s. These principles have been the bedrock upon which a writing career spanning decades has been based. I am enormously grateful to Orwell for providing them. Let them work for you too.