5 basic principles to write efficiently in 2019
“Powerful people know that when it comes to language, less is more.”
You might have heard this quote on a self-help book or on an Instagram of a famous motivator.
That when a person of great responsibility speaks, everybody else should listen.
Because that person knows that speaking too much causes unnecessary distraction. It allows everyone else to cross talk. To fill in. To share her power.
So when it comes to writing, I guess it’s safe to say that I like to think it that way. That words, phrases, and sentences, do have power, too.
Whether it’s on tablets, papers, or my note app, what’s in it entails imagination. A piece of my mind that’s left to the world as a gift.
After poetries, I never found anything more fascinating than Dunia di Dalam Mata. An anthology of short stories and mini fictions written by Indonesian’s most creative writers.
Specifically, the trend of mini fiction went viral in 2014, where people wrote “short stories” on their Twitter account with a #minifiction hashtag.
The challenge was, of course, to write in less than 140 characters. And it got more surprising when the number of threads just… flooded.
Some of them are pretty dark in theme, some others full-fledge hilarious. They’re just too good to miss, so someone had an idea: Why not make it a book? Popularise it?
And boy did it strike me ever since.
What amazed me was not that how one story can convey so many meanings in few words.
It’s the amount of time the writer needs to craft the words before finally putting them together and turn it into something readable and, in the end, meaningful.
From that moment on, I realised: The shorter the writing, the harder the process.
The bliss of instant gratification personality
But why is it important to write short?
As much as the technology rises, the reading time span becomes significantly shorter.
One source claims that the human average attention span in 2000 is 12 seconds. In 2015, it shrinks to only 8.25.
What about in 2019?
Where the dependence on technology becomes twice as unbearable. And more and more people are setting higher expectations to it. Better products, quirkier catchphrases, faster delivery service, faster chat response.
Faster everything.
Let’s take a look at the case of online shopping.
When you wish to purchase an item, you ask the seller first: Is there any stock available?
Although reading reviews can help sometimes, asking the seller can be a great way to convince yourself that this product is great.
However, it is not the asking that determines the quality of the whole service. It’s how fast the seller can respond to you when you need the answer the most.
If you get response in less than an hour, chances are you’ll proceed to window shop on another store.
More than an hour? That store is on your black list.
Sadly, this happens to me in the case of online transportation.
If my ojek doesn’t arrive according to the estimated time on the screen, I get cranky. Which doesn’t happen very often.
What gets me crankier is when the drivers reject to pick me up once they’ve accepted my order. I mean, why would you accept it in the first place? But, anyway.
My point is that these things are what makes us to have an instant gratification personality.
All of the sudden, everyone wants to have a million different things in a single blink of an eye. If they could teleport in one finger snap, they would. If they could gobble so much information in a clap of thunder, they’d do it.
But that’s never going to happen.
Luckily, in a world that moves at a glacial pace, everything instant is golden. It’s something to treasure when things go by so quickly.
If a product can be delivered within less than 3 hours after ordering, people don’t mind spending a fortune on it.
If an ojek driver can constantly arrive within, or faster than, the estimated time, users will keep loyal to the brand for the rest of their lives.
Instant arrival. Instant response. Instant to… read.
5 basic principles of concision
So, let’s get straight down to it.
When you want to be concise, of course you don’t want to add something up but reduce. Tone everything down. Cross few words. Make it smaller in size. Tweak short.
The main goal of short writing is to be efficient without sacrificing the key message you want to convey.
If you still need to add those two words at the end of your phrase, negotiate them. If you just need three words to express your feelings, why need five?
As a reference, I have two books that you can look up to by yourself. (Both are downloadable.)
One is my go-to textbook by Betty Azar’s Understanding Grammar, or, as I like to call it, the “blue book.” Azar’s comprehensive and simple explanation in English was hugely beneficial for beginners and advanced learners.
The second one is Cliff’s TOEFL Preparation Guide by Jerry Bobrow. Although it discusses mainly on TOEFL execution strategy, the grammar review section is one of the best grammar lesson I’ve ever read.
So, thought it might be useful for you, too?
To sum up, here are five basic principles of concision you can use for your work or daily use. Whether it’s for an e-mail to your boss, an Instagram caption, or a blog article of your latest travelling activity.
Now let’s move on to the details.
1. Delete words that mean little or nothing.
There’s probably no better example than the speaking style of “anak Jaksel” or South Jakartans who like to speak Englonesian or zig zag English.
However, it turns out that it’s not just these people who like to speak that way.
I find that most of my colleagues also do so. Out of hesitance or holding back, in writing, this is a big turn-off.
Your writing will sound dismissive and diffident, if not condescending in some situations.
Some of the words I’m talking about include:
- kind of
- really
- actually
- literally
- totally
What do they mean, really? In my case, most people treat them as fillers.
As an entry point to any sentence they speak. As a means to bridge their real thoughts and their thinking time.
It’s great in spoken English, but in writing, it’s a big uh-uh.
So, if you want to keep them in the first draft of your writing, make sure it carries meaning in the second. Otherwise, cross it already.
Principle: If it doesn’t make sense in the second reading, forget it.
2. Delete words that repeat the meaning of other words
This also happens a lot in spoken conversations, where people throw words around just to hog the air and kill the elephant in the room. Which is fine.
Air-hogging and awkward silence are acceptable traits in oral communication. But definitely not in an efficient writing.
The most recent Indonesian phrase that was considered “repetitive” was ilmu pengetahuan. Both mean “knowledge” but it’s been uttered so often that otherwise it will sound weird or funny to native ears.
Some other phrases I also find include:
- biography of her life
- close proximity
- exactly the same
Principle: One means enough.
3. Delete words implied by other words
Is it just me or so many Indonesian news reporters say this: “Keadaan di desa Bojong Kenyot sangat mengharukan sekali.”
I’ve once heard this on TV and could not stand myself but cringe nonchalantly.
Sangat and sekali are the two words so often used together people think it’s correct.
It reaches to the point where it becomes annoying, that even I myself use it on a whim. It’s kind of difficult to refrain myself from not saying so, just because I’ve heard it spoken so many times.
Here are some of the phrases in English you should be careful:
- terrible tragedy
- circle around
- each and every
- end result
- free gift
- new innovations
- repeat again
- revert back
- summarise briefly
Principle: It never takes two to tango.
4. Replace a phrase with a word
This technique is not useful when writing academic paper. At least for me.
Finding the right phrase just to make my paper look “full” is not easy. It can be as challenging as writing a 3000-word essay itself.
However, when it comes to writing short, this is just magic.
I’m not suggesting that you remember all the prepositional phrases as the ones below. The only way to do it is to think simple.
Make sure the words are simply read and understood.
If you can’t think of another way of saying “I don’t know his whereabouts,” then say “I don’t know where he is.”
It’s direct, intentional, and scannable in one glance. Here are some of the few examples that you can consider:
- in the event that → if
- in the forefront of → before
- in a flash → fast
- in consequence of → because
- in memory of → remembering
Principle: If it can’t be said in simpler words, say nothing.
5. Change negatives to affirmatives
This is probably the core technique to creating efficient writing. It is to remove all the negativities and turn them into something positive.
The less the “no,” the more efficient and professional your writing will look.
However, it doesn’t always go that way.
There are certain situations where the word “no” is more powerful than its absence.
Especially if you want to emphasise specific message involving negations such as warning.
For example: “Don’t smoke here” or “Don’t park throughout this avenue.” Then the use of “no” is necessary there.
But for other purposes, you can opt out to delete it after all:
- Not include → exclude or omit
- Not in harmony with → disagree
- Not readable → illegible
- Not shy → immodest
- Not the usual → atypical
Principle: Avoid saying no. But only in certain situations.
In summary, these are the basic principles of concision in an infographic:
Writing in papers, tracing the path of the mind
They say that there is no such thing as perfect writing. Or perfect writer.
There’s just constant… bleeding. Bleeding in the head. On the keyboard. And sometimes, at heart.
As for myself, every time I finish writing something for work, I leave it for a day.
I give space for my mind to return when it’s ready. Because I know that the first reading of my draft would never feel the same as the second, or the third.
I simply put it to sleep and let it sink.
It’s always amazing to see how I can critique myself tomorrow for the draft I made today.
And maybe a bit surprised to find my disbelief about whatever words I’m jotting down. I could just go on and say “Who the heck wrote this?”
But that’s part of the education.
I suddenly was thrown away back in the old days. Where computers were not available and there were only papers and pencil.
Imagine the number of crosses on their first draft when they wrote out-of-place words or phrases.
Now imagine today.
Once you have written something bad, you can just delete it. Then it’s gone forever.
The trace of your thoughts was non-trackable. It then becomes a bit harder to see where you have gone wrong and what to improve.
So, this is another technique I use to write short.
I try to shift my mindset to be the one living in no-computer era. I use paper and pen first. I cross unnecessary words.
Yes, my paper will look ugly and full of stretches. But, isn’t that the point of drafting?
To conclude, writing efficiently doesn’t mean that you should be a prolific writer.
It means that you’re willing to edit your draft ruthlessly.
To critique your work violently. To make sure that every little detail that ruins the key message is gone. To make sure that it’s powerful enough, so that your reader will believe it.
So, if that powerful person knows that “less is more,” your writing should do, too.
Be that person.
You can find an exactly identical post on my LinkedIn.
