How To Write with Brevity, Including Examples From Famous Writers.

by | Freelance | 21 comments

Writing less to stay more, the power of brevity

Have you ever noticed how certain writers have an unparalleled mastery of the English language.

In every sentence they craft, they never waste words, and still manage to communicate their point with a succinct grace.

Their prose is nothing short of amazing. It’s economical, to the point and most of all, clear. This concise crafting of copy is a joy to read, it instils confidence in the reader not just by being useful, but by also managing to communicateing the primary benefit and message in a very short period of time.

This short and clear approach to writing attracts a lot of attention from the readers at large. Check any piece of successful content and you’ll see that a concise approach often brings thousands of likes and dozens, if not hundreds of comments.

Although all audiences are different and require differing approaches to produce content that appeals to them, blockbuster content across the board always shares one common element. Regardless of industry, audience or approach, all successful content exercises extreme brevity.

Featured Download: Click here to get the FREE five-point checklist to creating effective, impactful copy!

“C’mon Pete, Brevity’s Not That Important. Is it?”

Yup, it really is.

Whether your content’s aim is to inform, educate, entertain or sell there’s one golden rule you need to follow.

Your content, regardless of use, needs to be as long as necessary, and no longer.

The average online attention span is now a paltry 8.5 seconds.

2015 Average Attention Span

Do you really think someone is going to sit and read a 2000 word essay on a topic that could be summed up in a paragraph? Of course they’re not. They’re going to go to the website or publication that has covered the story in as few words as possible.

People are busy. They don’t want to waste time reading your fluff. That fluff might make your article sound nice, but it distracts from the main point of your article and bores your readers.

Impactful copy always gets to the point. Its author has ignored the desire to waffle, they’ve trimmed every last piece of fat ensuring the only words left are those that have meaning.

Featured Download: Click here to get the FREE five-point checklist to creating effective, impactful copy!

So What’s the Secret to Concise, Kick-Ass Copy?

Thorough editing. 

That’s it. No big secret or hidden method. Comprehensive editing is the only way to achieve concise copy that hits the mark.

[Tweet “3 quick tips to editing #content for maximum impact!”]

It seems so easy, right? Just edit away all fluff and you’ll be writing like the pros.

However, editing your content is extremely difficult. Anyone can cover a topic in 2000 words. To cut it down to 500 words whilst retaining the full impact and usefulness is something few can achieve.

Shorter pieces take longer to create because you’ll spend twice as long editing. This should be reflected in your rates. My fee for a short lead gen email is double that of a 2000 word blog post because I have to spend so long in the editing stage.

Mark Twain had it right when he said:

If you want me to give you a two-hour presentation, I am ready today. If you want only a five-minute speech, it will take me two weeks to prepare.

So editing is the key, but what exactly should you edit out?

Three Quick Editing Tips to Create Copy that Converts

Channel Your Inner Slasher Movie Villain

Cut mercilessly. Never stop, and never apologise.

Look at the intro to this piece. 50-60% has been cut.

Does it change the message? No. Does it make it harder to read? If you ignore the red, then no.

So it’s easier to read and the message hasn’t changed.

Perfect.

Avoid Weak Adjectives and Verbs

Have you ever seen Dead Poets Society? If you’re a writer and you haven’t, shame on you! There’s a 30 second segment where Robin Williams manages to sum up how to cut weak adjectives from your writing.

This not only cuts useless words, but also helps establish you as a better writer.

Take the same approach with verbs. Use action verbs instead of weak sentence structures (to be or to have) that rob your verb of its impact.

Here’s an example that also explains the concept.

  • An action verb is a verb that represents an action
  • An action verb represents an action

Here’s one more for clarity’s sake.

  • He was considering moving to the US
  • He considered moving to America
Stop Repeating Yourself!

Repetition helped fill word counts when at school. But you’re a pro writer now.

No one wants to read repetitive phrases. Below are just a few examples of needlessly repetitive phrases.

  • Her dress was blue in colour – She wore a blue dress.
  • We completed it in a shorter period of time – We completed it in a shorter time
  • He checks his bank balance on a daily basis – He checks his bank balance daily
  • His future plans involve an extended holiday – He plans to take an extended holiday

Get the picture?

Repeating useless words might fill up a word count, but it also damages the impact of your copy.

Featured Download:- Click here to get the FREE five-point checklist to creating effective, impactful copy!

Your Ability to Write is Your Bread and Butter

We talk a lot about how to pitch, negotiate and set rates. These are all important aspects of your business, but if you can’t back these up with solid writing you’re going to get nowhere.

I don’t care what kind of writer you are, your success hinges on your ability to create concise copy. You need to spend as much time on the business side of your career as improving your skills as a writer.

One without the other leads nowhere.

Improving your skills as a writer is a long and arduous road. The editing tips outlined above are a great way to add the extra punch to your copy, but you’re also going to have to work on the other areas of vocabulary, grammar and syntax.

Perhaps that’s an article for another day. In the meantime, [amazon text=if you’re serious about improving your writing then I highly recommend Stephen King’s On Writing&asin=1444723251]. This book has been the biggest help in improving my own abilities as a writer. The added bonus? It’s also pretty damn cheap!

This is an edited and updated version of an article originally published in Aug 2014!

21 Comments

  1. Matt Cain

    Brilliant!

    Reply
  2. Michelle Andrea Williams

    Pete, Thanks! I am linking your article in a blog post on Brevity Writing. Putting my post on LinkedIN later today. Brevity rocks!

    Reply
  3. Gill Andrews

    We completed it in a shorter time – We completed it faster 😉

    But seriously: Great post and great point! Love the examples you provide. It adds to the learning effect.

    Completely agree that only merciless editing leads to clear and succinct writing. But it just takes So. Much. Time! I recently did 4(!) edit rounds of a 2500+ words article. I think it took me more time to edit than to write it.

    Here’s to precision and brevity in writing 🙂

    Reply
    • Pete Boyle

      Hey Gill,

      4 edits sounds like a real pain in the arse, but I don’t doubt it was worth it! How long did the article end up being after those edits?

      Appreciate the comment! Thanks for stopping by.

      Reply
      • Gill Andrews

        Hey Pete,

        I started with 4000+ and brought it down to 2563. I still remember the number, because I was constantly checking the word count while doing the final editing round.

        It was indeed a pain, and I only did it because there was a word limit. But the result was worth the effort. Mark Twain would have been proud of me 🙂

        Speaking of Twain: Interesting quote! I’ve never heard it before, but have been using the similar quote to illustrate the same point: “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” (most probably from Pascal). I regularly add it to emails that got longer than expected.

        Reply
        • Pete Boyle

          That’s huge! reducing a piece from 4000+ to 2500 is no easy feat. Well done!

          And yeah, some of my clients wonder why short succinct stuff costs more and takes longer. They never believe me that reducing the word count without sacrificing the message is a real pain.

          Reply
          • Gill Andrews

            Exactly! I recently was asked to write a headline and a subheader for the hero section. It took me 2 hours to do, also because I first had to learn about the company to be able to distill their message to 3 sentence.

            For some clients, it seem counter-intuitive. “How come 3 lines cost that much?” Because it takes time!

            *rant over* 🙂

            Reply
  4. Michael McCafferty

    Editing includes checking links.
    The link in the 3rd from last sentence is broken!

    See:
    >>> if you’re serious about improving your writing then I highly recommend Stephen King’s On Writing.

    Otherwise, good article!

    Reply
    • Pete Boyle

      Bugger,

      Thanks for pointing that out Michael and for the comment.

      I’ll get onto fixing it now.

      Reply
  5. Michael Balog

    Shouldn’t this be titled, “Brevity is important”, thereby reducing word count, and increasing impact?
    Kidding aside, great piece. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Pete Boyle

      Ha!
      Maybe I should look into cutting the title 😛

      Thanks for the comment Michael!

      Reply
  6. c1ue

    Nice twitter endorsement

    Reply
  7. Assaf Erlich

    Hi Pete,
    Great post! I think this is valuable for every business.

    Reply
  8. Iqra Irshad

    I read all the talk about brevity i get too much good points for my assignment i appreciate you. Well done and thanks.

    Reply
  9. Reginaldo

    Absolutely remarkable writing! I value this information.
    Thanks.

    Reply
  10. Evans Oleka

    This is great Pete!
    Really learnt a lot. And you examples are distinct and easy to grab.
    Thanks.

    Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *