One of my favorite pieces of writing advice comes from Steven King’s On Writing: Don’t do your readers’ thinking for them. It’s an elegant principle that – frankly – I would never have come up with myself.

Here’s an example of what King is talking about. A typical writer (like me!) would probably write a sentence like this one:

Jane wept because she knew Lionel would never come back to her.

Here’s how King might do it:

Jane wept. She knew Lionel would never come back to her.

But is it really ok to write this way? If you’ve ever taken an English course (and who hasn’t?), you can probably picture a teacher scribbling furiously in the margin: choppy.

We’ve all been told that long sentences are better than short ones, and we’ve all been encouraged to use lots of transitional words: because, although, therefore, when, and so on.

I’m an English teacher myself, and I agree with that advice – up to a point. When I was teaching, one of my favorite assignments was to ask students to combine sentences in various ways:

When I won the contest, we all went to an expensive restaurant.

Because I won the contest, we all went to an expensive restaurant.

I won the contest; therefore, we all went to an expensive restaurant.

Sentence-combining activities are a great teaching tool for students who don’t feel confident with semicolons and commas. Students often told me how grateful they were for that practice.

But today I want to talk about why I like Steven King’s advice, even though it often leads to shorter and simpler sentences.

There’s a basic truth that we English teachers sometimes find hard to swallow: plain writing is better than complexity. Picture readers gliding easily through something you’ve written. Here’s what we imagine is going through their heads: “What a stupid writer.” “This is too easy.” “This guy probably doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

But here’s what our imaginary readers are really thinking: “This writer is wonderful! I want to read more.”

Many people – alas – mistakenly believe that pompous writing impresses readers. I’ve known many writers who are afraid to write plain, straightforward sentences. “My readers will think I’m stupid!” is the common cry.

Not at all.

The best way – indeed, the only way – to impress readers is by what you have to say. Readers are always looking for powerful ideas, useful information, and interesting stories. Nobody has ever said, “I can’t wait to read a book that’s full of complicated sentences and big words.” Readers want good books.

Can you write one for them?