Keep it Simple!

When I was teaching A level English Literature, a colleague told me that one of her students had remarked on how simple Kazuo Ishiguro’s language was in the set text ‘Never Let Me Go.’ The colleague relayed her response: Ishiguro must know lots of complicated words, there’s a reason why he uses simple ones. As a reader, the student had fallen into the trap I often fall into as a writer: thinking that long, obscure words are more impressive. Sometimes I still feel like the little girl trying to impress her English teacher with how wide her vocabulary is. However, Ishiguro, like all good writers, knows that we need to choose words which suit our characters. ‘Never Let Me Go’ is narrated by a clone, ‘Kathy H.’ Her view of the world is constrained by the small community she lives in and the way her life is prescribed by others. Her thoughts are often naïve. Ishiguro knows that the best way to do this is to give her simple language, in order to characterise her as a limited, if likeable, character. Here is an extract from the beginning of the book:

The short sentences, the unremarkable words and the ‘chatty’ style, all help to shape Kathy’s voice, a voice that we hear throughout the novel, apart from when she quotes others. ‘Keeping it simple’ allows Ishiguro to bring Kathy to life, and we empathise with her as a result.

            As writers we can learn a lot from Ishiguro (there’s a reason why he won the Nobel Prize in Literature after all). Keeping our writing simple, when occasions demand, doesn’t demonstrate a lack of sophistication. We too know lots of long words, but if we tailor our language to our characters, we suppress the desire to impress our readers with our large vocabularies, instead favouring the realism and credibility that provide an immersive experience.

            My children’s head teacher used to tell them to ‘K.I.S.S.’ in their writing. (Keep it simple, stupid.) As authors, we could well do likewise.