Where should we look for advice on writing well?
Lawyers discussing this increasingly mention books, mostly American or, more broadly, from the English-speaking world. Nothing wrong with that. There is plenty of this literature and some is very good. I enjoy it myself. But a while ago I read a Polish book addressing the same topic and found excellent advice on how—and why—to write simply. Here are some extracts:
“Artificial and convoluted speech tires and discourages us. Reading an elaborate, intricately constructed letter with too many subordinate clauses, parenthetical passages and participles tires us even more, and faster. We put such letters aside and are reluctant to return to them.”
“Such letters are relatively easier to write than subsequently to read, understand and be persuaded by.”
“Fluency and clarity of thought, natural language and concision: these are the characteristics of modern commercial style. A special style has even developed: spoken, meaning factual and concise, yet persuasive and forceful. Its watchword is: write as you speak, and speak as little as possible. Avoid stereotypical, customary but immaterial phrases, and express the substance concisely.”
“Most letters that ‘do not work’ have been killed not by their substance […] but by how that substance is presented, how they persuade. Find words that express the essence of a thought vividly and accurately. One such word means more than several sentences. Everything can be expressed precisely and vividly if one knows what one wants to say.”
“And it is good to draw on everyday speech and daily life, particularly the life of the customer reading the letter.”
Good? Good. The book offers much more, including before-and-after examples and psychological explanations of what works, what does not, and why.
I hope you are now wondering whether I will finally name the book. Indeed I will. It is Nowoczesny list sprzedażowy (The Modern Sales Letter) by Kazimierz Jabłowski, second edition, Warsaw… 1937. Its advice addressed the marketers of that time, but I think most of it is perfectly suited to lawyers today, 85 years later.
Three final reflections. First, it is hard to resist the familiar Polish saying: “You praise what is foreign, but do not know your own; you do not even know what you possess.” It really fits here! Second, where would Poland’s thinking, and more, be without the war and communism? Third, but not least: a lawyer wanting to learn modern writing will not necessarily waste time visiting a second-hand bookshop!
