Great stuff! I especially appreciated the last point, that longer/more is not better. Brings me back to a formative experience in an undergrad peer-reviewed poetry group and a devastating but effective afternoon with a "legitimately murdered poetic baby."
Good writing is a science. Knowing your audience is an art. Combing the two to impart critical knowledge to your chosen audience is a gift that is equally parts of both. Well done, Trent!
Were the last two paragraphs of the conciseness section included to demonstrate a point? I thought they were very well written, though they probably could have been condensed to two sentences rather than two paragraphs. Though I believe the way you wrote it, while some would consider it "fluff," actually conveys the point that more can, in fact, be better, as it can be used to hammer home the point one is trying to make.
Thanks for the feedback. The paragraphs you refer to are not a demonstration. I kept them because they advance the main idea by making three supporting arguments:
1. Students learn that more is better.
2. But more is not better in professional writing.
3. To break the more is better habit, murder your darlings and prune your prose.
That said, I'm sure when I reread this article a week or month from now, I'll see where I could have been more concise.
The first and last questions when writing should be: is this useful to the readers?
Don't write, if you can't express the information in a form that the reader can understand and use.
My last conference paper took six drafts, kept getting shorter, and generated a bunch of good discussions. It stayed on topic, with ties to several branch needs. It took years to learn how to re-write and then push back at editors and supervisors who wanted the usual mush.
This is an excellent article. As a senior partner, I try to impress this on the younger lawyers- “Good professional writing respects the reader’s time by getting straight to the point. It includes only the necessary information to advance its argument and nothing more. Strong professional writers avoid wordy, dense language and prefer clear, simple, and concise writing.”
Great stuff! I especially appreciated the last point, that longer/more is not better. Brings me back to a formative experience in an undergrad peer-reviewed poetry group and a devastating but effective afternoon with a "legitimately murdered poetic baby."
Thanks, Ellen! Murder those darlings!
Good writing is a science. Knowing your audience is an art. Combing the two to impart critical knowledge to your chosen audience is a gift that is equally parts of both. Well done, Trent!
Thanks, Ash!
Were the last two paragraphs of the conciseness section included to demonstrate a point? I thought they were very well written, though they probably could have been condensed to two sentences rather than two paragraphs. Though I believe the way you wrote it, while some would consider it "fluff," actually conveys the point that more can, in fact, be better, as it can be used to hammer home the point one is trying to make.
Tom,
Thanks for the feedback. The paragraphs you refer to are not a demonstration. I kept them because they advance the main idea by making three supporting arguments:
1. Students learn that more is better.
2. But more is not better in professional writing.
3. To break the more is better habit, murder your darlings and prune your prose.
That said, I'm sure when I reread this article a week or month from now, I'll see where I could have been more concise.
Best,
Trent
The first and last questions when writing should be: is this useful to the readers?
Don't write, if you can't express the information in a form that the reader can understand and use.
My last conference paper took six drafts, kept getting shorter, and generated a bunch of good discussions. It stayed on topic, with ties to several branch needs. It took years to learn how to re-write and then push back at editors and supervisors who wanted the usual mush.
Thank you, very helpful post.
Great article. I appreciate the meta that the article itself talks the talk and is brief.
Thanks!
This is an excellent article. As a senior partner, I try to impress this on the younger lawyers- “Good professional writing respects the reader’s time by getting straight to the point. It includes only the necessary information to advance its argument and nothing more. Strong professional writers avoid wordy, dense language and prefer clear, simple, and concise writing.”
Thanks, Dan!