Use These Tactics to Tighten Your Writing

It seems counterintuitive, but it’s easier to write long than it is to write short.

I’m reminded of this fact whenever I write 600 words for a space that will only accommodate 400.

But whenever I’m forced to cut copy, I find the finished product is much stronger than the original draft.

It’s sharper, tighter, and more direct.

Getting there isn’t always easy. But I have learned a few tricks during my writing career that can help you polish your prose.

Get active — When you use passive voice, you create extra work for your readers. You also use extra words.

Look for passive voice when you edit and make your sentences active. The result: more muscular copy and fewer words.

Curtail your quotes — We love to pepper strong quotes into our copy to illustrate key points and add color to narratives. But if you’re running short on space, you can often isolate a key piece of the quote and cut the rest without losing the point.

You can also drop unnecessary sections of a quote, such as “I think” at the start of a sentence.

Look for filler words and phrases — We all use words that we’d never miss if we just took them away. Our team at Turn Two has learned that I’ll always cut the word “currently” when I see it in a draft.

Why? Because if you take the word away, you’re saying the exact same thing.

WordVice offers excellent examples of words and phrases you can isolate and remove when you’re editing copy.

Kill your darlings — It’s easy to fall in love with clever turns of phrase and flowery language. Sometimes, they work well and help you drive home a point in a memorable way.

Sometimes, however, they muck up your narrative and take your reader on an unnecessary journey.

It’s always smart to have an objective editor review your draft and identify whether your pretty prose is slowing your narrative and creating extra copy that you can live without.

You can use these tactics with everything you write —even if you don’t need to squeeze your narrative into a tight space.

Writing devoid of passive construction and unnecessary words is stronger and more persuasive. Always.