Wordy and Empty Overwriting
Writers struggle with wording. It’s a science that haunts us when we are working on major projects like novels and screenplays. But we’ve learned what’s important, what’s exciting, what keeps a reader reading and we know how to cut the fat.
“Cutting the fat” means taking everything out of your writing that isn’t necessary. It’s actually pretty hard to do for someone who isn’t really that familiar with writing. You might think that you’ve written the cleverest sentence and yet, it doesn’t fit in your writing.
It’s the hardest thing to convince a novice writer that a certain sentence doesn’t belong. I remember when I was just beginning and desperately trying hard to learn the craft. My teachers would always put red marks all over my favorite sentences. It was frustrating. But looking back on it now, I can certainly understand why.
Good writing needs to be focused and tight. Even in the cleverest writings, where the writer seems to be smooth and flexible. I would be willing to bet that the writer struggled and suffered over every paragraph and sentence.
Don’t take this to mean that good writing is a matter of being stiff and not enjoyable. Writing can be great fun if you let it. It’s a matter of making sure you don’t ramble on with senseless sentences that add no more meaning to your writing.
Empty
Empty sentences have plenty of words, but no meaning. Vague and pointless sentences can be taken out of your writing right off the bat. You might think it’s a clever sentence, but a good editor would show you how it adds nothing to your writing at all.
For example, imagine a mental picture of someone engaged in the intellectual activity of trying to learn in a situation in which it is crucial that they consider the facts when trying to be inquisitive.
That is practically a sentence about nothing. “Imagine” and “mental picture” are the same. So, that part of the sentence can be reduced to simply, “imagine.”
“Intellectual activity” and “trying to learn” are also the same just as much as “consider the facts” and “trying to be inquisitive.” Basically, this sentence is someone’s attempt to say, “Imagine someone trying to learn when it is crucial to be inquisitive.” The sentence is nice, but it has little meaning.
The sentence “imagine someone trying to learn to be inquisitive” might actually carry some weight. In other words, it is important to be inquisitive and that’s how people learn. But, trying to learn when it is crucial to be inquisitive has redundant meaning that gets the sentence nowhere. It’s as if the writer is saying that it’s more important to be inquisitive than it is trying to learn. Now, that’s just plain ridiculous.
Wordy
In business, people tend to use more words than necessary to express a certain meaning. They act as if it is against policy to be clear and concise. To some extent, business writing has its own form and there are certain ways to write that should be followed. But, not every sentence has to be wordy.
For instance, word combinations such as “as you know,” “in time,” “it is regrettable” and the like are used over and over. These word combinations add nothing important to the overall meaning of the sentence and can often simply be cut.
“So, it is regrettable as you know that in time we must conduct layoffs.” This kind of writing comes across as a writer who is unsure and very weasel like.
Just say it, “So, we must conduct layoffs.” That’s to the point. Clear and concise writing will earn the respect of the writer often in spite of the message.
If you give yourself a few days away from your writing, you’ll be better suited to come back and edit it later. You’ll see wording that adds absolutely no meaning to your sentences. You’ll also be better capable of correcting your own mistakes.
Cut the fat. Take entire sentences out and reduce redundancy. Being a great writer isn’t hard. It just takes saying what you only mean to say and paying attention to detail. Then, you can start build your own style and start having fun with it.