For brevity I suppose I could have entitled this post, “Brevity” but I wanted to remind myself, and you, to be succinct at all times.
As someone who likes to talk to a lot of people all the time, brevity is difficult for me. There is so much to talk about that I have to blurt it all out in verbal diarrhea fashion.
But with more and more people going minimalist and rocking information diets, now more than ever is the time to just say what you mean.
I may well be contradicting myself here as I have on more than one occasion written posts that span well over 2000 words. However, that was not my intention. The posts that I have written here are the length they needed to be to convey the point I was trying to get across.
When I finished the draft of A Blogger’s Guide to Commenting for example, I didn’t look at it and think, “what can I add to this?” I actually looked for filler sentences and chopped them out. I hate beating around the bush and don’t like people to beat around the bush with me.
People, especially online, just do not have the time to sit and read the words that only serve to boost your ego. If you dilly dally, it’s very easy to unsubscribe, click away or lose interest. I do it everyday with countless blogs.
So, here are my top 3 tips for achieving brevity in your articles to help you say exactly what you mean.
3 Simple Tips for Brevity
- Know what you want to say. When I write an article and I know the topic and know what I want to say, I get to the point quickly. If I try to wing it, I ramble, get sidetracked and fail to make the point I was trying to make. Have an idea of what you want to say before you say it and your words will have more clarity and meaning.
- Think slowly. When I type or speak, I consciously make the decision to slow down my thought process. I focus on what I am saying right now. Nothing more. By focusing on the present, I stop my mind from wandering. If you start to think about what you’re going to say or a future blog post idea comes while typing – you will lose your train of thought.
- Edit profusely. When writing posts, I limit editing to just 5 minutes. During that time, I cut out anything that isn’t – in my opinion – necessary to the point. When speaking, I edit as I talk. If I find myself starting to deviate from the point I’m making, I will stop and rephrase myself. It can be hard to edit speaking, but post edits are a breeze after you’ve done it a few times.
Brevity and succinctness are rare traits in many people. I think it would alleviate a lot of the junk online and make it easier to consume information if people got to the point more quickly. In the offline world more work would get done, less time would be wasted and meetings would be far less annoying.
What is your experience with brevity and how do you simplify, minimalise and just say what you mean?
That is a really good point! I visit quite a lot of blogs and to be honest, a lot of them are just fluffed up articles that could easily have been half as long.
Now I don’t mind reading a lot article, as long as it is all content! But when people just write long posts for the sake of it – that frustrates me a bit.
Yeah, if you look at Viper Chill and the articles there it’s all killer and no filler and they are 2-3k posts.
If you keep it to the point and it’s still long, chances are it’s going to be insanely useful!
I do similar things with my posts. I usually end up putting about 10% if the post on the chopping block because its either rambling or doesn’t add to the article in any way.
I’ve also started creating outlines for my articles, where I draft out a quick set of headings before I begin the post.
Maybe you’d like to write a post on creating article outlines? I’d love to hear about that.
I like the idea of brevity, it was like someone once told me: think like a newspaper man… because they had to make headlines that were grabbing, made you read more and got the point across in only a few words. I think Twitter has helped many people a lot with this too, considering their 140 word limit on conversation starters.
Great point! There is definitely a knack to building suspense and keeping you reading with limited characters and Twitter certainly helps to just say what the hell you mean.
These are some good ideas Ian.
I need to practice this more at times, as a I can be a talker.
Thanks for sharing
It’s a bit like the pot calling the kettle black for me though, because if you ask anyone I know – or skype chat with me – you’ll soon see that I could talk for England. Especially about fitness, learning spanish, internet marketing and sales.
Yep. (how’s that for brevity)
Thanks!
Lol
Especially in an era where people are reading less and less, getting to the point is very important. Most people don’t have the attention span to sit through 1000 words or more. Once they see the length, they may begin scanning the page which takes away from the effort you put in your writing.
I have mastered the art of skim reading now. I can read a 600 page book in 2-3 evenings and so a 1000 word article is easier to digest now. Still, if you can say the same with 500 words then why would you want to fill it out? As you say, people value their time more and more – so get to the point!
Brevity is definitely something I’m working on for my writing. The best writers in the world know how to get their point across in short, powerful sentences.
Anyway this post is good reminder that I should start taking a closer look at how much pure “content” I’m putting in my articles. Thanks!