Pros on Prose: C.S. Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis, author of The Screwtape Letters and The Chronicles of Narnia, was asked in an interview how a writer goes about "developing a style." His reply:

The way for a person to develop a style is (a) to know exactly what he wants to say, and (b) to be sure he is saying exactly that. The reader, we must remember, does not start by knowing what we mean. If our words are ambiguous, our meaning will escape him. I sometimes think that writing is like driving sheep down a road. If there is any gate open to the left or the right the readers will most certainly go into it. . . .

I would not know how to advise a man how to write. It is a matter of talent and interest. I believe he must be strongly moved if he is to become a writer. Writing is like a "lust," or like "scratching when you itch." Writing comes as a result of a very strong impulse, and when it does come, I for one must get it out.
(Decision magazine, September 1963)

More About Style:

• What Is Style?
• "On Familiar Style," by William Hazlitt
• A Scrapbook of Styles