Tip 707: Keeping Things Short, Part I

From the Writing Workshops: Keeping Things Short

In the musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, each of the Peanuts characters are asked to write a 100-word book report on “Peter Rabbit.” Lucy gets to eighty-two words and runs out of ideas. Eighteen words short.

She continues:  

“And they were very, very, very, very, very, very happy to be home.”

Ninety-four, ninety-five . . .

“The very, very, very end.”

We identify with Lucy because we’ve been there. The 500-word essay in high school. The ten-page paper in college.

But when was the last time in our professional lives we were asked to write a 500-word-minimum document? Or fill ten pages?

Never.

Ever.

So here we begin a short series of tips on getting it down. On writing more concisely. On keeping it short.

First of the Series: Get Rid of the Intensifiers

Notice how Lucy padded her essay: “very, very, very . . . .” These are intensifiers. Nine of them. They add nothing to the story and distract from the narrative:

“They were happy to be home. The end.”

Shorter. Simpler. More direct. Easier to read.

Look for intensifiers ending in -ly. Words like “actually,” “incredibly,” or “extremely”:

            “She was actually convinced by the data.”

Get rid of the intensifier:

            “She was convinced by the data.”

Or rewrite:

            “The data convinced her.”

Seven words down to six down to four.

You’re saving your reader’s time. You’re writing more concisely. You’re keeping it short.

We love this stuff.