ポール・グレアム氏の「シンプルに書くこと」

私は、普通の言葉と短い文で書くようにしています。

その方が読みやすく、読者は内容に集中できます。読む負担が減れば、アイデアを理解する力が増えるのです。

そして、最後まで読んでもらいやすくなります。読むのが楽なら、途中で読むのをやめる人が減るからです。

イタリア料理に「サルティンボッカ」という「口に飛び込む」料理があります。私の目標は「サルティンテスタ」、つまり「頭に飛び込む」文章です。言葉を意識させず、アイデアがスッと頭に入るようにしたいのです。

文章がアイデアそのものになるのは難しいでしょう。しかし、ほとんどの書き手にとって、そこを目指すべきです。文章とアイデアの間に余計な飾りは要りません。

それに、簡潔に書くことは思いやりです。難しい言葉で飾るのは、読者に余計な負担をかけ、自分を良く見せようとする行為。読者に重い荷物を持たせるようなものです。

英語で書くなら、読者の多くは非ネイティブです。彼らは、難しい英語でなくても、あなたのアイデアを理解できます。難しい内容だからといって、難しい言葉を使う必要はありません。

凝った文章は、アイデアだけでなく、アイデアのなさも隠せます。中身がないことをごまかすために、そう書く人もいます。一方、簡潔に書けば誠実さが伝わります。もし内容がなければ、それも明らかになるでしょう。

簡潔な文章は長持ちします。未来の読者は、今の海外の読者と似たようなもの。文化も言葉も変わります。長持ちさせたいと思うのは、職人が丈夫な椅子を作るのと同じで、虚栄心ではありません。

長持ちするのは、良い仕事の証です。

これらは簡潔に書く利点ですが、私がそうする一番の理由は、複雑な文章が不快だからです。ごちゃごちゃした文章や、気取った言葉は、洗練されているとは感じません。むしろ野暮ったく感じます。

もちろん、意図的に凝った書き方をする時もあります。でも、それは狙ってやるべきです。

私の文章が簡潔なもう一つの理由は、書き方です。まず速く書き、その後じっくり編集します。編集の多くは削る作業なので、さらに簡潔になるのです。

---原文

March 2021

I try to write using ordinary words and simple sentences.

That kind of writing is easier to read, and the easier something is to read, the more deeply readers will engage with it. The less energy they expend on your prose, the more they'll have left for your ideas.

And the further they'll read. Most readers' energy tends to flag part way through an article or essay. If the friction of reading is low enough, more keep going till the end.

There's an Italian dish called saltimbocca, which means "leap into the mouth." My goal when writing might be called saltintesta: the ideas leap into your head and you barely notice the words that got them there.

It's too much to hope that writing could ever be pure ideas. You might not even want it to be. But for most writers, most of the time, that's the goal to aim for. The gap between most writing and pure ideas is not filled with poetry.

Plus it's more considerate to write simply. When you write in a fancy way to impress people, you're making them do extra work just so you can seem cool. It's like trailing a long train behind you that readers have to carry.

And remember, if you're writing in English, that a lot of your readers won't be native English speakers. Their understanding of ideas may be way ahead of their understanding of English. So you can't assume that writing about a difficult topic means you can use difficult words.

Of course, fancy writing doesn't just conceal ideas. It can also conceal the lack of them. That's why some people write that way, to conceal the fact that they have nothing to say. Whereas writing simply keeps you honest. If you say nothing simply, it will be obvious to everyone, including you.

Simple writing also lasts better. People reading your stuff in the future will be in much the same position as people from other countries reading it today. The culture and the language will have changed. It's not vain to care about that, any more than it's vain for a woodworker to build a chair to last.

Indeed, lasting is not merely an accidental quality of chairs, or writing. It's a sign you did a good job.

But although these are all real advantages of writing simply, none of them are why I do it. The main reason I write simply is that it offends me not to. When I write a sentence that seems too complicated, or that uses unnecessarily intellectual words, it doesn't seem fancy to me. It seems clumsy.

There are of course times when you want to use a complicated sentence or fancy word for effect. But you should never do it by accident.

The other reason my writing ends up being simple is the way I do it. I write the first draft fast, then spend days editing it, trying to get everything just right. Much of this editing is cutting, and that makes simple writing even simpler.