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Concise Writing

Learn how to trim your writing for the brief encounter.

Writing for Concision: Trimming Your Writing


“Since brevity is the soul of wit .. .  I will be brief" - Shakespeare's Hamlet


Here's an excerpt from the French writer, Marcel Proust:  

 Male getting his hair cut.

"Many years had elapsed during which nothing of Combray, save what was comprised in the theatre and the drama of my going to bed there, had any existence for me, when one day in winter, on my return home, my mother, seeing that I was cold, offered me some tea, a thing I did not ordinarily take."
Here's how a cautious writer could recompose Proust's excerpt more concisely:  

"Combray bored me, so in winter, I returned home, where my mom served tea to warm me up."   

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Unlike Proustian prose, you'll want to write for concision, trimming the words you use to convey an idea; and with the three simple strategies found in this guide, you can make your writing more concise and your reader more content.