An old-school piece of advice about how much jewelry is too much: “Wear a minimum of baubles – and before you leave for the party, remove one piece.”
The same is true with words. More of them won’t necessarily make your point. In fact, they might smother it. Don’t separate an idea from readers by surrounding it with words words words words words.
Put another way: Do you have friends who babble on and on or who constantly go off on tangents when they’re trying to tell a story? You try to follow them through the maze of verbiage and think, “Get on with it!”
Use fewer words but choose them with care. Make each word work hard. Very hard.
(This is the first in a series of quick-hit writing reminders. Watch for more. If you have questions that could be answered in this format, send them to Contact@writeablogpeoplewillread.com.)
Cindie A says
My thoughts exactly.
Revanche says
A constant struggle, if my word count is anything to go by. The best compliment I’ve received in storytelling was “You summarized that plot perfectly, in just two sentences!” I’ve never been able to reproduce that.
Donna Freedman says
I’m guilty of overly long writing myself. When I worked at The Philadelphia Inquirer, the nickname for those intensely wordy special articles was “megaturd.” Trying hard not to leave too many megaturds at my personal site or here. The “60-second writing tip” format is a start.