Technicians vs Artists

“Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.”
–Frédéric Chopin

With great power comes great responsibility. This is especially true in writing. Just because you know big words and know how to set up complex sentence structures, does not mean you should. In fact, the key determining factors as to whether or not you should use big words and complex approaches comes down to artistic intention and the audience they’re writing for. 

Many writers’ apparent artistic intention is to simply “sound smart.” This is when most fancy words are used. This isn’t harmful only because it is meaningless posturing—it undermines your message by excluding portions of your audience who might have otherwise taken something from your writing. 

As I’ve written more and more blogs (almost 900, at this point) my writing style has become simpler and simpler. There are moments when I bust out a big word, but only when it precisely describes what I need to say in that moment. If you’re choosing between words that do just fine either way, choose the shorter one. 

To have great artistic skill is to be a technician. To know when and how to employ your skill for maximum effect…is to be an artist.