"Get to the POINT...!!"
Have you ever been demanded to just get to the point when sharing a story or details of a situation with someone? Many times we can be so knowledgeable or just plain passionate about something, that we over talk and go on and on to someone who may not really care about every little detail.The same can be true, when writing in the professional world. Many times there is the temptation to go into full detail and length, in order to sell or explain a given idea. The truth is that there will be greater response and involvement, if you don't lose your reader along the way. Tell them what you need to tell them and then be done. This will allow your reader to get the overall picture without trying to sort through the "noise".
Here are a couple of tips to Help:
1. Initially, just write! Don't try to minimize your words to start off. Get on paper what is it you are thinking and wanting to convey, then go back and start sorting through the non-sense to get to the skeleton. This will help to not leave out major points you may forget otherwise.
2. Imagine talking to the person with the most annoying voice you know. You want them to be done talking as soon as possible, once they have their purpose of talking completed. Do the same with your writing. Try to recognize when you are rambling about non-sense and straying from the topic at hand.
3. Many times articles or advertisements give you a set amount of characters to use when submitted the text. This is done to minimize space. When writing, try to look at the extra words you throw in there without meaning, or the sentences that just repeat what has already been stated. Pretend that you have only a certain amount of space to get across what it is that you saying.
4. It's tempting to want to sound intelligent when writing for a professional purpose. The truth is that 99% of your readers don't speak in the language we try to use in order to do so. Use plain, simple words rather that using a thesaurus to come up with "fancy" words. This will cut down on the amount of words, as well as allow the content to be understood by the average reader.
5.Challenge yourself! Read 3-5 sentences at a time and see how you can minimize it down to one or two and still get the same idea across. In doing so, you will reduce your writing to half in length, resulting in a more concise product.
For more ideas and techniques in concise writing visit:
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