The Saturday Writing Quote — getting concrete

“Writing should be concrete. It should evoke images and refer to something the reader can identify with particular experiences. A general concept like motion is interesting to a philosopher, but an ordinary reader wants to know what is moving, how fast, whether it is going toward him or away from him, and what effect the motion of this object will have on his income or his likelihood of getting a good night’s sleep.”

— Sumner Ives, A New Handbook for Writers 317 (1960).