I’m sad to say that Mark Twain probably wouldn’t have cared much for me.  I’m a pretty nice guy, adore my wonderful wife, frolic with my Yellow Lab pups each day, respect my elders, hold the restaurant door for ladies, and still “sir” and “ma’am” folks I don’t know, regardless of their age.  I don’t drink, do drugs or smoke.  I work very hard, show up on time for appointments, meet my deadlines, sweat the details, and treat people the way that I would want to be treated.

So why wouldn’t Huck’s maker warm up to me?  You see, the Because “the father of American literature" (so said William Faulkner) had an immense aversion to excessive verbiage.  Mr. Clemens -- world-renowned satirist, writer, lecturer -- embraced brevity the way our elected officials embrace earmarks, pork, sincerity and ethics.  Or perhaps the way Ms. Lohan or Ms. Hilton embrace maturity, restraint and moderation.  With regard to the subject of brevity, not so much me.  I plead guilty to writing long. 

(Editorial aside to do some charity work:  If you’ve known me for awhile and just emitted some sort of a chortle, chuckle, guffaw or even uh-duh tied to the incongruity of this post coming from me, I’ll forgive you if you send a $50 check to your favorite charity before your head hits the pillow tonight.  I confess my writing sins and you cackle.  Nice.  You’re forgiven … if you write the check.)

Communication ratchets up in quality is best when words are used judiciously.  Like garlic, rouge, a compliment and a good change-up, moderation is key with words, too.  Indeed, there is no question that brevity is sacred to first-rate writers for one simple reason -- it most effectively delivers your message.  Such a state It is not always easy to achieve succinctness because it’s sure as shootin’ a heck of a lot far easier to write long than to write tight and crisp copy.  An experienced, capable writer/editor can reach back and tap uses what I refer to as the Three Ps of Copyediting -- Proficiency, Persistence and Penchant -- to cull out the frill from the fluff and make copy and points pop with the gusto and passion intended by the writer.  That’s why talented editors and copywriters hold such an esteemed place in agencies and throughout the media world.  As well they should.

My buddy Mr. Twain wrote often about his annoyance with wordiness.  One of my favorite of his many quotes on the subject is:  “To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself.” 

Indeed.  Loquacious, rambling vVerbosity can make for dull reads and a wandering audience, especially so if you’re not having fun with and otherwise pulling your readers into the story you’re telling.  In other words, though you might feel that you have a lot to say,.  If you want to get your point across precisely and memorably take the time to, go back to your copy and lose some of the adverbs and adjectives, tighten up your prose, and replace the $9 utterance word with a $2 word.  You’ll get your point across just as effectively (probably better), and you’ll be less likely to lose your audience.

To be sure, sometimes cranking out copy is all you have time to do.  Other other factors have to be weighed when writing.  For example, wWhen sitting in the VP’s or Director’s chair, there are times, as irrational as it sounds, when you simply don’t have time to write a short report or email -- so you write a longer one.  Indeed, tThere is absolute legitimacy truth to the assertion that, on occasion, one just doesn’t have time to be brief.  When there’s a lot going on, time is tight and deadlines are pressing down, you just crank -- thoughts to fingers to keyboard -- especially when your audience needs the information and you need to move on to another item on your to-do list so as to be optimally productive.  After all, you’re a manager, and if you’re a decent one, the first thing you have to manage well is your work flow.  If you’re even a reasonably talented communicator and if your audience has a responsibility tied to the epistle, just write it -- they’ll read it.  Knock out a first draft, edit and rewrite quickly but thoroughly.  Go back and rRead through your copy again to assure clarity of message and proper grammar, and … Pow!  Gone.  Message delivered … what’s next? 

It should go without saying that tThis grind-it-out mentality can not often be tapped for important outreach projects and campaigns.  Fliers, advertising and marketing copy, by necessity, must quickly grab the reader’s attention, creating a desired action on the part of the reader.  If you’re cognizant of the importance of good writing and if you’re a decent editor, you’ll aApproach each such assignment with discerning eyes -- with an editor’s focused mentality.  Or select those on your team who can do this better than you.  The bottom line is that sSomeone must be able to turn back the word faucet’s volume to a carefully selected, finely tuned stream, with no messy splashing about, to make the points you or your client need made in such outreach vehicles.

Blogging, by its very nature, isn’t a medium that is going to get overly scrutinized by readers for copy length, but you can just as easily lose blogosphere readers due to diarrhea of the keyboard as you can in a newsletter article, magazine editorial, press release or annual report.  Long-windedness will only get you less readers of your thoughts.  If you’re going to go on (and on), mMake your key point or points early in your copy -- tap the metaphorical inverted-pyramid or triangle approach to writing whereby the most important and interesting information is presented first.  If you’ve done that in a fashion that pulls readers into your copy, they will keep reading more of your thoughts on the subject at hand you’re good to go.

Web copy is an altogether different sort of beast.  Such copy needs to elicit a more immediate response, quickly guiding the reader to an action while at the same time offering further information should that be the route preferred by the visitor to your site.  Moreover, wWriting and editing search-engine friendly content and incorporating keywords is a must with web copy regardless of whether you’re enlightening, educating, promoting or selling. 

To me, language is a breathing organism.  Good-to-great editing -- and, again, it’s a learned skill -- is simply a higher state of writing.  It’s okay on occasion to turn the editor off (or at least down) and just have fun stringing together rational thoughts.  As long as you use proper sentence structure and don’t butcher the grammar, you’re not hurting anyone.  In fact, you’re probably making someone think and perhaps react or smile or tap into another emotion or action, which is a pretty darned good byproduct of a written communication, is it not, whether in a business environment, a personal blog or a heartfelt letter? 

So, for goodness sakes, tell your story and sell it passionately.  There is a place for the conversational writing style; however, on the whole, strive to write tight and crisp.  Be sincere.  Get your point across.  Be brief.  Do those things well, and you’ll be successful and in demand.

One last comment before I close -- a message for the inestimably brilliant and rightfully revered Mr. Twain:

“To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as itself a prized composition just by itself.”

*************************

Addendum #1:  For more thoughts on the importance of words, visit here on our website.  If you want our team to help you polish your copy efforts, drop us an email or give us a call.

Addendum #2:  If you would like to read the blog above minus the strike-through edits, see below.  Please note that if someone needed this blog to fit a designated space, the copy -- as with any copy -- could easily be edited to do so.  That’s what good editors do. 

On Brevity and Editing (edited version)

Mark Twain wouldn’t have cared for me.  I’m a nice guy, adore my wife, frolic with my pups, respect my elders, hold the door for ladies, and still “sir” and “ma’am” folks I don’t know.  I don’t drink, do drugs or smoke.  I work hard, show up on time, meet deadlines, sweat the details, and treat people the way I would want to be treated.

So why wouldn’t Huck’s maker warm up to me?  Because “the father of American literature" (so said William Faulkner) had an aversion to excessive verbiage.  Mr. Clemens -- satirist, writer, lecturer -- embraced brevity the way our elected officials embrace earmarks, pork, sincerity and ethics.  With regard to the subject of brevity, not so much me.  I plead guilty. 

(Editorial aside to do some charity work:  If you know me and just emitted a chortle or uh-duh tied to the incongruity of this post, I’ll forgive you if you send a $50 check to your favorite charity.  I confess my writing sins and you cackle.  Nice.  You’re forgiven … if you write the check.)

Communication is best when words are used judiciously.  Like garlic, rouge, a compliment and a good change-up, moderation is key with words, too.  Indeed, brevity is sacred to first-rate writers for one simple reason -- it most effectively delivers your message.  It is not easy to achieve succinctness because it’s far easier to write long than tight and crisp.  An experienced writer/editor uses the Three Ps of Copyediting -- Proficiency, Persistence and Penchant -- to make copy pop.  That’s why talented editors and copywriters hold such an esteemed place in agencies and the media.  As well they should.

Twain wrote often about his annoyance with wordiness.  One of my favorite of his many quotes on the subject is:  “To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself.” 

Indeed.  Verbosity can make for dull reads and a wandering audience.  If you want to get your point across memorably, go back to your copy and lose adverbs and adjectives, tighten up prose, and replace the $9 word with a $2 word.  You’ll get your point across just as effectively (probably better), and you’ll be less likely to lose your audience.

To be sure, other factors have to be weighed when writing.  When sitting in the VP’s or Director’s chair, there are times when you don’t have time to write a short report or email -- so you write a longer one.  There is absolute truth to the assertion that, on occasion, one just doesn’t have time to be brief.  When there’s a lot going on and deadlines are pressing, just crank -- thoughts to fingers to keyboard -- especially when your audience needs the information and you need to move on to another item on your to-do list.  After all, you’re a manager, and if you’re a decent one, the first thing you have to manage well is your work flow.  If you’re a reasonably talented communicator and if your audience has a responsibility tied to the epistle, just write it -- they’ll read it.  Knock out a draft, edit and rewrite quickly but thoroughly.  Read your copy again to assure clarity and proper grammar, and … Pow!  Gone.  Message delivered … what’s next? 

This grind-it-out mentality can not often be tapped for important outreach projects and campaigns.  Fliers, advertising and marketing copy must quickly grab the reader’s attention, creating a desired action.  Approach each assignment with discerning eyes -- with an editor’s mentality.  Or select those on your team who can do this better than you.  Someone must be able to turn back the word faucet to a finely tuned stream, with no messy splashing about, to make the points you or your client need made.

Blogging, by its nature, isn’t a medium that is going to get overly scrutinized by readers for copy length, but you can just as easily lose blogosphere readers due to diarrhea of the keyboard as you can in a newsletter article, magazine editorial, press release or annual report.  Long-windedness will only get you less readers.  Make your key points early in your copy -- tap the metaphorical inverted-pyramid or triangle approach to writing whereby the most important and interesting information is presented first.  If you’ve done that in a fashion that pulls readers into your copy, you’re good to go.

Web copy needs to elicit immediate response, quickly guiding the reader to action while at the same time offering further information should that be the route preferred by the visitor to your site.  Writing and editing search-engine friendly content and incorporating keywords is a must with web copy regardless of whether you’re enlightening, educating, promoting or selling. 

To me, language is a breathing organism.  Good-to-great editing is simply a higher state of writing.  It’s okay to turn the editor off (or at least down) and have fun stringing together rational thoughts.  As long as you use proper sentence structure and don’t butcher the grammar, you’re not hurting anyone.  In fact, you’re probably making someone think and perhaps react or smile or tap into another emotion or action, which is a pretty good byproduct of a written communication, is it not, whether in a business environment, a personal blog or a heartfelt letter? 

So tell your story and sell it passionately.  There is a place for the conversational writing style; however, on the whole, strive to write tight and crisp.  Be sincere.  Get your point across.  Be brief.  Do those things well, and you’ll be successful and in demand.

One last comment before I close -- a message for the brilliant Mr. Twain:

“To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as itself a prized composition just by itself.”