Long-winded texts: we detest them. We complain when we are forced to read them, drop out as soon as we can and call on the creator to write short and powerful. Advice that sounds as simple as pruning your rose bush. But there are risks involved.
Also for your hips: belt with shortening tools
Just like roses, pruning text is not necessarily difficult: it can be done in many ways and with different tools. And just like with real pruning tools, one tool requires a steadier hand than the other. If you don’t have one and you start pruning anyway, an accident is just around the corner.
Read below for a quick guide to 7 popular shortening tools.
1. The word saw
Service: simple
Risk: low
Long words are not only longer, but often also harder to understand and write. Shorter words are therefore almost always a better choice.
- ‘Now’ saves 7 letters from ‘currently’.
- ‘Toch’ is more than 70% shorter than ‘desalnietmen’.
- ‘Making’ is twice as short as ‘realizing’ and 5 times as clear.
Biggest risk of the word saw
If you choose the shortest option for every word, you run the risk of your text sounding ‘made’ simple. Writing simple (for example at language level B1) and easy to read is secretly quite difficult.
2. The sense saw
Service: experience needed
Risk: low
Is it possible to write long sentences that are so seductive that your reader is completely absorbed in your story and clings to the next word with complete devotion?
And.
But most readers can’t keep that up for long. And most writers can’t either. So for every sentence of more than 12 words, get out the phrase saw. Are there any empty words? Can you replace a comma with a period?
Biggest risk of the phrase saw
A text with only short sentences. That doesn’t read well. Do you notice? It may sound cliché, but I advise a good balance between short and long sentences.
3. The flat lettuce beater
Service: for pros only
Risk: high
Do you know or are you that colleague who ‘flattens’ every complicated argument into a one-sentence conclusion? Being able to powerfully summarize a complicated story is a fantastic skill. But it is also a difficult one, especially in written text.
Biggest risk of the lettuce hammer
You hit too hard too quickly. As a result, your long(winded) but strong argument turns into a meaningless platitude. Short, but weaker than a dishcloth.
My advice: use this hammer only in emergencies. For example, if you literally have to fit your text on a tile. In all other cases, you’d better use your other tools.
4. The Bullshit Radar
Service: difficult for your own texts, easier for those of others
Risk: average
- ‘The world around us is changing faster than ever. This requires solutions that move with society.’
- ‘You will receive a market-conform salary, appropriate to your education and experience.’
- ‘Our XXL weekend bags are indispensable for your short and long holidays, because they are very large and can therefore fit a lot of stuff in them.’
Many texts unintentionally contain these kinds of empty sentences. Empty as in: they are grammatically correct, but add nothing to your story. With a bit of bad luck, your reader will even be bothered by them: you want to avoid that!
Biggest risk of the bullshit radar
Bullshit is subjective: what is it for you? crap is, another person may find very valuable. My advice: discuss the results of your radar regularly with someone else. And adjust it occasionally a bit sharper or less sharp.
5. The list maker
Service: some experience is a must
Risk: average
Do you have a long (web)text with many subtopics? And do you not use a bulleted list or numbers anywhere? Then you are consciously trying to give your reader not to help. Ouch!
Biggest risk of the list maker
Addiction: wanting to present everything in lists. Some product pages and vacancy texts look like one big list with 30 bullets in total. Then the employment conditions and requirements, or the pros and cons, start dancing together in the head of your reader! It is better to alternate a list with another form, such as a running text, quote, video or infographic.
Another risk: lists that are too long. If your product has 13 benefits or your job posting has 11 requirements, you probably haven’t turned on your bullshit radar yet.
6. The refinement file
Service: much patience and doubt are necessary
Risk: (too low
The refinement file is the favorite tool of perfectionists. You know them: every time they read a text, they see new things.
- A word that falls just on a new line
- A sentence that doesn’t quite alliterate well
- Still forgot one advantage
With the fine-tuning file it can always be improved.
Biggest risk of the refinement file
A waste of time. And the (vain) hope that every refinement is also an improvement.
I am convinced that it is more efficient and educational to put your content live at 80% and analyze what the user thinks of it, than to endlessly tinker to get to a 100% score, which only exists in the mind of the creator.
Yeah, that was quite a long sentence. But I needed it to make my point in one breath
7. The toolbox
Service: takes time mainly
Risk: low to medium
Are your 13 screwdrivers, 24 allen keys, 15 types of screws, 3 hammers and 5 packs of sandpaper in a crammed drawer? Then there is about a 100% chance that you have no idea what you have and where it is.
Organizing a toolbox with compartments, hooks, drawers and holders is a significant investment, but will pay for itself after just a few jobs.
You structure your text with:
- Page navigation: anchor links to all important parts within the page
- Headings that guide your reader through your story like a table of contents
- Blank lines between your paragraphs
- Alternation of text blocks and images
- Collapsible text blocks
- Buttons for impatient readers
- …
Biggest risk of the toolbox
No.
Paying attention to your structure is, in my opinion, the pruning form with the most impact. A long text that looks long scares off some of your readers before they have read a single word.
Long story short
Like ‘Less is more‘ is ‘Write short & powerful’ a saying on tiles. Strong as an idea, but without good execution no more than an idea.
I’d rather look at a rose bush than a tile. To learn how to prune, it’s handy to have a pruning book. Or ask your neighbours for advice, where they always bloom so beautifully.
Whether these tips will work for your roses? You don’t know. Your roses are your roses. How to make them beautiful is mainly a matter of doing it yourself and seeing what happens. Start carefully and slowly build up courage.
Source: www.frankwatching.com
