Folks, we need to talk about this.

Did you ever hear the description of an ideal speech as a miniskirt? 'Long enough to cover the subject, but brief enough to be interesting'? Okay, ignore the casual sexism, ugh, and think about it. Does this c oncept fit your writing?

'Oh, yes,' you say, if you write non-fiction. 'I run into that problem all the time. If I natter on too long, it's tmi, and they'll run away.'

'Oh, no,' you say, if you write fiction. 'The reader can just go along with whatever length I choose. I spend lots of time on my favourite subjects, like the hero's blue eyes, or the fabrics in the bedroom.'

Er, fiction writers, maybe you should rethink that attitude. I don't know how many books I've put down for exactly that reason. Brevity is the soul of wit, and all that.

Now, how do you make sure your writing isn't long-winded and boring to the reader? I mean, it's okay to say that, but how do you do it?

Here's an excellent suggestion: go and read threads in h2g2's very own Peer Review. One of the many reasons the Edited Guide is such an excellent database of stimulating and informative writing is that the Entries are subject to a peer review process. Responding to input is vital, and the collaborative nature of the writing gives us polish. Getting an Entry ready is a process, and we can really learn from it. In case we don't have any helpful h2g2ers around, and have to do it ourselves.

Say you've written an entry about your favourite subject. Picking a far-fetched example, I'll say it's 'Getting a Parking Ticket on the Isle of Wight.' You've written it, it's informative and entertaining, and it comes in at just under 1000 words. You put it in PR.

The subject sparks interest. People respond with the usual, 'Oh, how fascinating. I never knew that', etc, etc. Then the queries start.

'But what if you don't live on the island?' 'Can you mail in your payment?' 'Will they reimburse you for the ferry ride to court?' 'What if you're foreign, Scottish, a space alien?' You get the idea. Everybody suggests that you add some information, maybe a footnote to explain, say, that the tickets are written in standard English?

If you're unwary, you'll add a footnote here, a paragraph there, and a whole new subsection on foreign visitors. Then you take a step back and reread what you've written – always a good idea. And you're aghast. Your witty little entry is no longer witty. Nor is it brief. It has morphed into a ponderous compendium of knowledgeable blather. Yes, it covers the subject more completely now. It answers all the questions everyone came up with.

But the entry is now boring. Readers will be bored-bored-bored, and run away. They don't want to know all of that. Nobody clicks on an internet article to be the subject of information dump. They want to be entertained, intrigued, and enlightened. Not forced to become a captive audience while some writer rides a hobbyhorse.

So what do you do? You start again. You figure out how to incorporate all that information – the illuminating statistic, the telling detail – into a narrative that is direct, brief, and to the point. And if you absolutely have to take any side trips, make double-dog sure it is fun to get there.

Is this more work than adding three paragraphs and two footnotes? You betcha. It's work. Don't get me started on how irritating I find the assumption that writing isn't supposed to be work. It is work. And it's often hard or challenging. But it's worth it.

You want some homework for this week? Write a guide entry and put it in Peer Review. Make the initial entry less than 1000 words – which is work to start with. Then participate, fully and conscious of what I've been saying, in the editorial process. You might just surprise yourself by how much fun you're having, and how much you appreciate those incoming questions. See if I'm not right.

And Galaxy Babe, SashaQ, and Bluebottle will love us, because we'll be contributing to the Guide while practicing our craft¹.

Writing Right with Dmitri Archive

Dmitri Gheorgheni

22.06.15 Front Page

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