Strengthen your text by shortening it
In Stephen King’s memoir On Writing, the author reveals the extent to which he values revision. After he writes a draft, he lets it rest and comes back to his text with a goal of reducing it to 66% of the original–in other words for every 3 words in his original draft, his goal was to cut one (think how long the original draft of The Stand must have been!). King’s cuts, it is important to note, are not about cutting content or eliminating information, but about streamlining the wordiness out of the writing–eliminating words that don’t add meaning, selecting one exact noun rather than a good-enough noun with three adjectives (indeed, King writes that he has a particular disdain for adverbs, preferring instead to pick the right verb in the first place.
Suggestions for writing more concise prose
- Look for lists of several vague adjectives or nouns; replace with a more specific, visual one.
- Question every word in the sentence–does it have a role? if you removed the word or phrase, what would be lost?
- Combine sentences that contain many of the same words–especially if the sentences start with the same noun or noun phrase
- eliminate words that are obvious (“round circle”) or give excessive detail.
- Eliminate modifiers and intensifiers (somehow a “distinguished scholar” seems almost more elevated than a “very distinguished professor”–which almost sounds apologetic.
- Omit redundancies — in words (“deafeningly loud” => “deafening”), phrases (“during that time period” => “In 1967”) or sentences.
- Change modifying phrases (particularly those after the verb) to single word modifiers (“The designer of the park spoke in a manner that was condescending” => “The park’s designer spoke condescendingly.”
- Eliminate who, that, and which phrases when possible (“The phone that she had just bought and she was carrying and that she had put in her pocket rang.” => “The new phone in her pocket rang.”)
- Change passive voice to active, when appropriate (“The ball that was kicked by the boy went over the fence” => “The boy kicked the ball over the fence.”)
- Revise “cleft” sentences (sentences beginning with it or there followed by a linking verbs: “There was a man who ran a small store in the village.” => “A man ran a small store in the village.”)
- Avoid nominalization or using a string of nouns where one will do: “The function of the employees of the department was to collect the money for the debts that were owed.” => “The department collected on outstanding debts.”
Proofread carefully
- Take your time–do not wait until the last minute to write or you will not have time to let the text rest and revisit it.
- Aim for a minimum of three passes of your own writing + the feedback of at least 1 critical reader.
- Print out the text to slow yourself down–use a ruler and reread backwards.
- Pay attention to the green, red, and blue squiggly lines.
- Role-play (not Cosplay)–think of yourself as the uninitiated as you read.
- RUN THE SPELL AND GRAMMAR CHECK!!