Language Rules!

It's very easy to fall into the trap of using bombastic, high-sounding words to make your work look/sound erudite. But in reality, it has quite the opposite effect. Yes.

What I always ask young writers, when they seek for writing advice, is "Who are you writing for?" and most of the time they reply with something like "common people". And why I ask this question every time is because it is EXTREMELY important to have your target audience in mind when you're writing something that you want put out into the world.

• Your reader should not have to possess extensive background knowledge of Literature, Philosophy, Sociology or any other discipline for that matter to be able to understand simple concepts (unless of course you're particularly targeting the students of these disciplines). 

• If you're writing for the common people use the language of the common people. If you want your message to have an impact on them, kindly refrain from throwing around words that you know they won't understand. It often intimidates them into not reading your work at all.

• Your reader should not have to consult the dictionary 12 times to be able to understand the content of a single page. It makes the entire reading experience extremely tedious and thus forces the reader to close the book after a few pages and never go back to it again. Your goal is to ignite not exhaust.

Let your words be simple but your ideas profound. Who do you want to inspire? Who do you want to change? Who do you want to reach out to? Ask yourself these questions before you write.