The two most important qualities of effective writing

Communicate your ideas as clearly as possible, using no more words than needed.

That’s our war cry for writing and editing. Here’s why:

• Forcing your readers to slog through needless words shows a lack of respect for their time.
• Talking around your points shows poor command of the material, if done accidentally, or condescension for your reader, if done for purposeful obfuscation.  
• Writing directly is democratic, allowing a broader audience to consider your ideas and agree or disagree.
• Most writing authorities champion brevity as a key virtue. Strunk’s command to “omit needless words” encapsulates—and exemplifies—the goal.

There are equally many reasons why writers fail to reach that goal. Perhaps the most common is not knowing how. Much of what we read is too wordy, yet we imitate the style, unconsciously or consciously. And if we do not fully understand the topic we’re writing about, producing direct and concise prose is even more difficult. After all, it’s hard to take a straight path when you don’t know the way.

Sometimes indirect and wordy prose is more calculated. Legions of abstract words and tangled clauses often march around underweight ideas. Some writers believe that complicated ideas demand complicated writing. The opposite is closer to the truth. The more complicated your ideas, the more you should strive for concise and direct prose, to avoid making your readers’ task even more difficult.

The idea is not to be brief all the time or even most of the time. The idea is to be brief unless you have a reason not to be. Even if you have a reason not to be brief, there are ways of handling writing that make it easier for your readers to follow what you’re saying.

In coming blog entries and in our online writing training, we’ll show you how.