Oct 25, 2016 12:51 PM
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Many authors avoid such simplicity in their writing because they want to appear sophisticated. As a result, they often use impenetrable prose in order to impress critics with their “deep ideas.” Asimov attracted criticism for avoiding this approach.
In 1980, science fiction scholar James Gunn, wrote of I, Robot that:
“Except for two stories [of Asimov]—”Liar!” and “Evidence”—they are not stories in which character plays a significant part. Virtually all plot develops in conversation with little if any action. Nor is there a great deal of local color or description of any kind. The dialogue is, at best, functional and the style is, at best, transparent… The robot stories and, as a matter of fact, almost all Asimov fiction—play themselves on a relatively bare stage.”
Asimov was never offended by such criticism. To the contrary, he welcomed it. He followed in the writing tradition of authors such as Ernest Hemingway, who favored short sentences, direct speech, strong verbs, and powerful prose. He believed that flowery language, useless adverbs, and nonsensical metaphors would only clutter up his writing and make it more of a chore for the reader. Here’s Asimov’s explanation on why he wrote the way he did:
I made up my mind long ago to follow one cardinal rule in all my writing—to be clear. I have given up all thought of writing poetically or symbolically or experimentally, or in any of the other modes that might(if I were good enough) get me a Pulitzer prize. I would write merely clearly and in this way establish a warm relationship between myself and my readers, and the professional critics—Well, they can do whatever they wish.
While few of us will ever reach Asimov’s level of output, his methods are useful for authors today. Thanks to following his advice, in the last two years I have been able to write 12 short history books, all while wrapping up my dissertation. He made being prolific more possible than I could have ever believed.
