Wasting Words?

How many times have we heard we are to make our writing tight? If you’re like me, it may be more than you can count.

I had no clue what it meant the first time I heard it. How does one tighten writing? It’s not like there’s a belt to cinch down or a budget to squeeze. After my critique group mentioned it several times, I asked what these two mysterious words meant.

How surprised I was to find out it simply meant removing weak or unnecessary words. Yes, there’s more explanation behind it, but that’s it in a nutshell. See, even there, by removing “in a nutshell”, the sentence becomes stronger. The word “yes” isn’t needed either.

Years ago, when the desire to write became strong enough to do something about it, I loved writing long, flowing, beautifully rich, picture-painting sentences. But the more I’ve written, learned, and grown, I’ve seen how words are a commodity and need whittling.

Look at the sentence in the previous paragraph again. How else might I have written it so I could say the same thing without so many words?

How about this? “When I started writing, I loved sentences filled with adjectives and adverbs.” Even the second sentence could use some editing: “As I’ve practiced, I’ve learned to choose the correct word for the correct place.”

As our greatest example of creating with words, look at all God did by saying a few words. He created light, the heavenly expanse, land, animals, plants, etc. With each one, He said, “Let there be . . .” or “Let the . . .”, and it was so.  If He can do all He did with so few words, we can as well. Also, think about the parables Jesus told. He went right to the heart of the matter to get His point across.

As we know, our work goes through many rounds of edits before it’s ready to send to our readership or for publication. But there are ways to cut the number of edits needed, and that happens by practicing tight writing from the beginning.

If we think about words as a resource given by God and follow His example, perhaps we can apply a few guidelines and learn how to better use the commodity of words He has given.

Here are a few to consider:

1. Remove any unnecessary adverbs and adjectives. Think about a song. Whoever writes it has a limited number of words to tell the story. Do the same.
2. Use the active voice instead of the passive wherever possible. There are many resources online to help, but one of my favorites is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q9JQtZF5tg
3. Strong verbs = strong sentence. Weak verbs add a suffix, while strong ones do not. I love this simple video about verbs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzhChOZDGDU 
4. Weak words = weak sentence. Words like that, really, very, I think, many, literally, and the list goes on. Check this resource for more ideas about weak words: https://expresswriters.com/50-weak-words-and-phrases-to-cut-out-of-your-blogging/
5. Use contractions, especially in fiction, unless you have a clear reason not to.
6. Watch for punctuation errors. Missing commas or using them in the wrong places makes confusing sentences. For example: Go eat, Grandma vs. Go eat Grandma. It’s a silly example, but it proves a point. You can find free and paid resources online to download which will identify problems.
7. Delete redundancies. For example, say “sit,” instead of “sit down.” (Where else would one sit besides down?) Use “new” instead of “brand new.” Watch for redundant phrases like, “after a head nod.” What other kind of nod could there be? Instead, use “after a nod.” Check this out: https://www.thoughtco.com/common-redundancies-in-english-1692776
8. Show don’t tell. Though a simple rule, it’s not one to use 100% of the time. Showing engages the reader in the story allowing them to “see” what’s happening instead of telling them in a narrative form. Last year, Kimberly Novak wrote a great blog post about this. You can find it here:  https://www.inspirewriters.com/show-dont-tell-engaging-the-five-senses/   Certain instances do need telling. For instance, if it benefits the progression of the story to summarize, say, a bit of backstory, telling is acceptable to move from point A to point B.
9. Watch out for dangling modifiers or misplaced modifiers. These might seem confusing, but the information, once understood, could help strengthen your sentences. Correcting modifiers can make a difference in writing clear paragraphs. This video does a great job with simple explanations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6AzQ99bYO8 

Words are a resource and a commodity. Used well, our readers will enter the world we’ve created and engage in the story or grow through the information we write. As God didn’t waste any words, we don’t want to waste words either. Let’s write to honor Him by serving our readers in the best way possible.