Concision Counts

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Thanks to readers’ ever-shrinking attention spans and appetite for consuming nuggets of information, concision counts more than ever before.

 

Writing 350- to 500-word articles for Emmy taught me to quickly convey the essence of a person or subject, but writing 50- to 100-word bios for Cablefax and Variety proved a crash course in concision. Writing tight is another term writers and editors use for concision.

Writing tight involves more than cutting extraneous words. It requires sharp focus and the ability to identify and delete unnecessary details. It’s so challenging that occasionally even editors who praise my knack for writing tight can find ways to trim a couple more words from my copy.

Why Write Tight?

  • People have short attention spans.
  • Print publications have limited space.
  • No one enjoys reading bloated prose.
  • Concision creates clarity.

Warning Signs

Remember when you were in high school, faced with writing a 500-word essay? The first thing most of us did was re-state the assigned prompt, knowing that might eat up ten or twenty words. Next, we were likely tempted to pad the essay with extra adjectives or meaningless transitional phrases like, “in order to,” “in other words,” “in summary,” “in fact,” or “in conclusion.” Some students might slip into passive voice: “The explosion was caused by a gas leak,” instead of “A gas leak caused the explosion.” Passive voice, eight words. Active voice, six.

The worst offenders — “that” and “which” — are so common they’re practically invisible.

Early in my career, an editor suggested highlighting every “that” and “which” on the page. It’s a simple trick for revealing how overused and useless those words can be. Around the same time, I read a newsletter written by someone with a fondness for the word “that.” At least twice in one double-spaced page she’d written, “that that,” when only one “that” was needed.

A few other red flag words: like, just, actually, very, rather, much.

“Actually, it’s like I’d just very much rather not write this silly essay, okay?”

The Art of Concision

Concise writing is equally important in long- and short-form writing. It’s required in short pieces. But having a few extra hundred words to play with isn’t an excuse to blather. When you eliminate extra words from long-form writing, you create space to incorporate additional details and color that can elevate adequate copy into something so engaging people feel compelled to read it.

Imagine you’re at a dinner party. Would you rather be seated next to someone who talks incessantly but never gets to the point, or a raconteur who is so entertaining you can’t wait to hear what happens next? The first person is so focused on sharing every detail that they loose their audience. The second knows how to trim extraneous details to get to the interesting bits.

Brevity is a sign that you respect your audience’s time. Don’t be the dinner guest who doesn’t know when to stop talking.

It takes time to write tight. I often spend an hour or more selectively pruning unnecessary words from my copy or re-phrasing things to use fewer words. Sometimes to meet a short word count, others times so I can squeeze in more information.

As a writing coach, I show students how to streamline their writing. As a freelance writer and editor,  I help clients tell stories through clear, concise copy.

If you need help fitting a lot of information into a small space, contact me.

Paula Hendrickson
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