Brevity. It’s beautiful. Especially online.
This week’s piece of advice for Internet communicators (that means you!) is to look for repetition, then slash and burn.
So many good writers weaken their copy by repeating themselves too many times. Their fantastic sentences don’t get the attention they deserve because of all the similar sentences packed in around them. Readers are lazy and prone to skimming. If you give them too much text to wander through, you’ll lose their attention—and lose control of your message.
And that’s a very sad thing, because I know you have something important to say.
Go on, little sentence. (c) Carla de Souza Campos via creative commons
By pruning your copy, you get to guide your reader through your story. As a result, they’ll be much more likely to take away something memorable, and even actionable.
So many great writers know (and knew) that less can be more. George Orwell’s well-cited rules for writing include these gems:
Never use a long word where a short one will do.
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
And if it’s possible to cut an entire sentence or paragraph, just do it.
When I was a newspaper reporter, the big challenge was often cramming my story into the number of words allotted by my editors. Sometimes I’d tell my editor about a super-amazing story full of life and colour and drama, and he’d respond with matching enthusiasm before asking (telling?) me to write it in 500 measly words.
Now, I’ll be the first to say it—in journalism, sometimes being too brief can be a big problem, leading to inaccurate stories and pissed off sources. Sometimes you really do need time and space to do the story justice. But it has to be warranted.* Your story—your home page, your blog post, your e-book, whatever—must be packed with important and unique pieces of information. Every sentence should have a reason for existing.
When I would slump back to my desk to trim 200 words from a story, often I’d realize that it contained a few similar points. Slash. Or that I’ve actually quoted my wonderful profile subject saying the same thing twice, just using slightly different language. Slash again.
Before I knew it, I’d have myself a story that people just might read until the very end.
Journalists have a saying for this. A warning: reporters and editors can be a bit, uh, frank with their language. (There’s actually a much more intense version of this phrase, but I’ll leave that for your imagination.)
Anyway. Here it goes.
Kill your darlings.
Just because you love a turn of phrase, sentence, paragraph, or anecdote you’ve written…that doesn’t mean it belongs in your copy. For me, this often appears in the form of two solid little paragraphs that say the same thing, more or less. It’s hard, but you gotta choose which one to kill (see how dark this gets?).
But getting rid of one, you give the other a chance to shine and resonate. It’s a noble, worthy sacrifice that will serve your reader—and your communication goal—well.
Important note: you don’t have to do this the first time you sit down to write. In fact, it’s better if you write, take a break, and return later to prune and polish. Make this part of the editing process, at least for now, and you’ll eventually find yourself applying it subconsciously to your writing.
Also important: there’s no need to be unnecessarily blunt or obtuse. Write as long as you need to (we are not bound by paper and ink!). This is about quality, not length. If the writing is good, and if you’re able to introduce new idea after new idea at a solid clip….keep going, friend.
* These principles may not apply to narrative writing in which the writer needs to build suspense, develop character, or set a scene. Don’t get me wrong, I love love that process! But generally, it ain’t what the Internet’s for.
Now it’s your turn. Take a look at something you wrote recently. If it helps, print it out and grab a highlighter. See those repeats? You won’t miss them as much as you think.