Four Cs Of Good Writing
Just Like The Four Cs Of Good Diamonds
Did you know that there was no consistent way or system to grade diamonds until the early forties?
Diamond merchants used various, usually broad- terms to talk about the quality of a diamond. Words like “river” or “water” were used to describe colorlessness. The term “Cape” was used to describe pale yellow diamonds from South Africa (following the 1867 discovery of diamonds in the Cape Colony). Words like “without flaws” or “imperfect” were used to describe clarity. And subjective terms such as “Well-made” or “made-poorly” were used to describe the cut of a diamond.
As a result, jewelers found it challenging to communicate a diamond's value to their customers.
Then in the early 1940s, Robert M Shipley, a former retail jeweler, came up with a system to consistently rate a diamond. He called it the Four Cs of A Diamond. The four Cs were — Colour, Clarity, Cut, and Carat.
The concept was simple but revolutionary. Soon Four Cs became the universal markers to determine the quality of the diamonds.
I am of the view that writing also needs markers to determine it’s quality.
After long deliberation and reading what prolific and established writers have been saying about writing, I concluded that…
