Steven Pinker’s Sense of Style is one of my favourite books on writing non-fiction. I’d recommend it to anyone that writes. He doesn’t just give you guidance on how we write, but also why we should care about how we write. Yet, from all the advice, there are two key pieces I keep coming back to.

Style matters

Early on his book, Pinker emphasises that style matters for three reasons:

First, it ensures that writers will get their messages across, sparing readers from squandering their precious moments on earth deciphering opaque prose…

Second, style earns trust. If readers can see that a writer cares about consistency and accuracy in her prose, they will be reassured that the writer cares about those virtues in conduct they cannot see as easily…

[Finally], style, not least, adds beauty to the world. To a literate reader, a crisp sentence, an arresting metaphor, a witty aside, and an elegant turn of phrase are among life’s greatest pleasures.

Get to the point. Earn trust. Add beauty.

So if writing style really matters, what’s the best one for reaching a general audience? Pinker’s answer: ‘classic’.

Show, don’t tell

While I could go through the detail of ‘classic’ writing style and its principles, I’m not going to do it here. It’s a lot to remember. Let alone use. What I do think is most helpful to remember is this:

The guiding metaphor of classic style is seeing the world. The writer can see something that the reader has not yet noticed, and he orients the reader’s gaze so that she can see it for herself. The purpose of writing is presentation, and its motive is disinterested truth. It succeeds when it aligns language with the truth, the proof of success being clarity and simplicity…

As a writer, we are directing someone’s attention to something interesting or important. This works for two reasons.

First, it turns concepts and ideas into something concrete and real.

[I]t’s an ideal that can pull writers away from many of their worst habits, and it works particularly well because it makes the unnatural act of writing seem like two of our most natural acts: talking and seeing.

Second, it truly aims to serve the reader.

Classic writing, with its assumption of equality between writer and reader, makes the reader feel like a genius. Bad writing makes the reader feel like a dunce.