This is true whether you’re writing in simple phrases or long lyrical sweeps. Concise writing simply means writing that is clear, vivid, and impactful-writing in which every word carries its weight. Even if you can’t point to these needless words, you’ll know they’re there, because they make writing feel loopy, slack, and unpolished.Ĭoncision is not about writing in a clipped or spare fashion, but simply means that every word carries its weight-whether you’re writing in simple phrases or long lyrical sweeps.Īgain, concision is not about writing in a clipped or spare fashion. The key phrase here is “needless words.” These are words that muddy your writing: they distract the reader from central ideas, fail to carry their weight in meaning or impact, or cloud the reader’s picture of the world you are building. It is writing that practices the prescription to “omit needless words.” What Concise Writing IsĬoncise writing is writing that has trimmed excess.Ĭoncise writing is writing that has trimmed excess.

In the 21st century, this advice still rings true as a concise (see, they’re doing it!) definition of concise writing. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subject only in outline, but that every word tell. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

Another word for unnecessary verbiage