You remember English class in high school or college, right? Maybe you hated English class because you weren’t great at writing or found it boring. Too many rules. Too much work. Too much reading.
When the teacher started using words like “concise,” your eyes glazed over and the drool started to flow. (I saw you in the back, nodding off.) Some of you might have felt like concise writing would stifle your creativity or might make your writing sound boring.
No worries.
Your memories of learning to write well may not be great, but those lessons have their place, especially now. Concise writing helps your reader understand your content in the shortest time possible.
Sounds like the perfect thing for writing today, doesn’t it? With attention spans decreasing what seems like daily, you can’t afford extra words.
Besides readers, search engines also like concise writing, and writing quality website content makes Google happy. What’s one hallmark of quality content? You guessed it—concise writing. It’s just a big, happy circle.
So, let’s talk about how you can use concise writing to your advantage and not lose your writing voice while doing it.
Ready? Off we go!
Remove words ending in -ly
Adverbs ending in -ly should be removed in most cases. Adverbs themselves aren’t a bad thing, but they can be lazy. Compare the two sentences below to see what I mean.
The football player ran slowly across the field.
Slowly doesn’t give a good description of the action, does it? Try something like this instead.
The football player drug his cleats through the turf as he left the field.
Can you picture that player now? The second sentence describes the action precisely. You can hear the cleats pulling at the grass.
Rather than using -ly words, describe the scene in detail. You’ll always come away with a better, more powerful description.
Keep only the most important words
Strong writing includes only the best words to get the point across. When you read through what you’ve written, ask yourself if each word is necessary. If you could say something with fewer words, use fewer words.
Which brings us to the next tip…
Use active voice
Using active voice naturally leads to concise writing. When you write in the active voice, you make the subject perform the action. This creates strong sentences and reduces the chance you’ll need extra words to say what’s necessary.
George read the book to the class.
Passive voice puts the subject in a situation where the action is being done to it.
The book was read to the class by George.
Notice I had to use extra words to complete this sentence. And, it sounds less interesting and more awkward.
You may not always be able to use the active voice or even want to. But, if you use it most of the time, it will make your writing more dynamic and help readers stick with you until the end.
Look for redundancies
Ever feel like you’ve repeated yourself? If you have a habit of using several words to say the same thing, especially in the same sentence, you use redundancies.
Need examples? See if any of these sound familiar:
- actual fact
- major breakthrough
- unexpected surprise
- 9 a.m. in the morning
- still remains
- past history
When you edit your writing to reduce or eliminate redundancies, ask yourself if each word is necessary again. Remove words that mean the same thing.
Shorten or delete long lead-in phrases
This is a common problem. Have you ever written this?
I’m sending you this email to tell you that I will be out of the office for the next two weeks.
You’re obviously sending them an email to tell them something, so why say it? The concise way to write this would be:
I will be out of the office for the next two weeks.
Unnecessary lead-in phrases often end with “that” or “because.” Eliminate them when you find them.
If the lead-in is needed, try to shorten it as much as possible. Just get to the point.
Speaking of the word “that”
Watch how often you use the word “that.” Read the following sentence.
I thought that he would try to go golfing today even though he knew that it would rain.
This is a common sentence you might see anywhere. “That” is sprinkled generously in just one sentence. The trick is to remove “that” wherever you see it. If the sentence still makes sense, leave it out. If it doesn’t, put it back in.
I thought he would try to go golfing today even though he knew it would rain.
See what I mean? Be ruthless with “that.”
Remove cliches and outdated language
This should be an easy fix to make your writing more concise. Cliches are overused phrases we’ve all heard before. Think something like:
It’s better than sliced bread.
Cliches make people roll their eyes. They’re tired and boring. Don’t use them.
And outdated language? It’s not groovy to use rad words from your childhood (or your mother’s). Your writing should sound like you live in today’s world, not the 80’s.
Use transition words
I’ve noticed recently many writers either don’t use transition words correctly or don’t use them at all. This can create choppy sentences and confusion for readers.
What are transition words?
Think words like “however,” “because” and “therefore.” Use transition words to move smoothly from one idea to another. You might see these words used to transition between two paragraphs by placing the transition word at the beginning of the second paragraph. That word then links the idea from the first paragraph to the second paragraph.
See if this example makes transition words clear.
Doug went to the movies to see the new independent film his friends told him about. They talked nonstop about how the writing was intelligent and emotional.
However, Doug found the movie so boring, he left halfway through. He didn’t tell his friends what he really thought of it.
Try these words out. I think you’ll appreciate how they lead your reader exactly where you want them to go.
Reduce qualifiers
Ok. Truth be told, I struggle with this one. I really, really do. See?
Qualifiers are words like “actually,” “very” and “really.” Because I write in a more casual tone, I tend to use these words for effect. At least, that’s what I tell myself. I should probably consider reducing them. (Oh look! There’s another one: probably.)
Qualifiers are imprecise. Your writing will improve if you replace qualifiers with strong adjectives or verbs instead. Let’s try one together.
The cat’s fur was very soft.
The cat’s sleek fur was like silk under my fingers.
The second sentence blows the first one away, doesn’t it? It creates more work for you, the writer, but the result will be worth it. Your readers will be drawn in instead of yawning and leaving.
You don’t have to get rid of every qualifier. They have their place. But, keep your eyes open to make sure you aren’t using them too often. Replace them where it makes sense.
Concise writing matters
I hope you can see how writing in a concise way can get your point across to readers in an easy-flowing manner. Be selective about each word you write. Readers want to understand your content and do it quickly. Don’t bog them down with wordiness and sloppy writing.
Need help with your writing?
If you struggle with concise writing or other grammar or punctuation issues, maybe I can help. I’m putting together a bootcamp specifically for business owners and entrepreneurs who want to improve their writing. The program is still in development, but it will be focused, individual coaching over five weeks. Spots will be limited so I can offer one-on-one attention.
You will complete assignments to improve your skills, and I will critique your writing to help you fix issues specific to you. This is not an email program! We’ll schedule five phone or Skype calls (one per week for five weeks) to go over your work.
If this sounds like something that would be helpful for you, let me know in the comments below. More details about the program will be released soon.
1 thought on “Concise writing tips: Tighten your writing, keep your readers”
Comments are closed.