V.S. Naipaul’s rules for writers—some of them are very apt for the Web—start with “1. Do not write long sentences. A sentence should not have more than ten or twelve words.”

I made Naipaul’s acquaintance, in the literary sense, as a fifth-former at déCarteret College in Mandeville, Jamaica, which I briefly attended.

Mr. Stanley, the English master, handed me a copy of The Middle Passage: Impressions of Five Societies – British, French and Dutch in the West Indies and South America with a comment to the effect of “Read this and learn about where you are.” [more than 12 words there!]

I did to the best of my 16-year-old ability, but the book fixed an idea in my head of Naipaul only as a writer of nonfiction works, which does not do him justice. [I can break the rule if I keep the paragraph short.]