Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Fortune cookie writing advice

My wife got this fortune at a Chinese restaurant and gave it to me:

Four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity.

That sums it up well, doesn't it?

10 comments:

Dani said...

That's perfect! Now let me see if I can get past your word verification! I think it says shittiest but that can't be right, can it? Where are my bi-fos? Oh, phittiest is what it really says. LOL. No it didn't like that. How about warchuf?

Bob Sanchez said...

Two questions, Dani:
1. What the heck are you drinking?
2. Got any left?

Holly Jahangiri said...

Love it!! May I steal it?

Funny, Dani - my word verification is the language you're currently speaking: inglison!

Marian Allen said...

Great advice! We should all post that on our monitors and use it as scrolls on our screensavers.

And my word verification is ulala . I kid you not.

Fifi

Bob Sanchez said...

Holly, I believe that fortune cookie wisdom is in the public domain. It's in the US Code somewhere. However, Google holds the copyright on the word verifications.

Dani, if you're a Darwinist you believe in survival of the phittiest.

Marian, the last time I said ulala, the lady slapped me.

Okay, this is getting out of control...

Sharon - Grandma is a Writer said...

What fun to read these comments! And about the shortest and most memorable blog post I think I've ever seen!

I know you're all dying to know...mine is kintio

Holly Jahangiri said...

Challenge: Write a short story using at least 10 actual word verification codes. I'm nointa nonsense, but if they are nonsense words, make their meaning clear in the context of your story.

Elizabeth Haysmont said...

Credit William Zinsser http://quotedepot.net/quotations/four-basic-premises-of-writing-clarity-brevity-simplicity-and-humanity/178793

"lystefun" means I'm for real! Who wudda thunk it?

Bob Sanchez said...

Poor Zinsser was so concise he got plagiarized on a fortune cookie. His book On Writing Well is a real inspiration.

Holly Jahangiri said...

Hahahah! I'd give you High Fizesiv, if onlyz I couldz figurez out how.