Brevity. Briefness. Pithiness. Conciseness. Succinctness. The ability to say something effectively without repeating oneself needlessly and without saying it more than once. Without going on and on until the words are more reflective of self-indulgence on part of the writer than they are anything else. Cutting out the idle talk, per se, and getting rid of repetition, per se.
When someone reads your words, you have their attention. But only for so long. If you wait forever to get to the good bits, your audience will resent you, or worse, they’ll find something else to do.
In a first draft, excess might be necessary for you to discover your plot and characters. But in your second draft, make it look like you knew what you were doing all along. Your reader won’t need the superfluous bits to understand the story.
This relates to a piece of screenwriting advice that also applies to novelists; in any scene, you need to start late, and get out early. Begin as close to the action as you can, and end as soon as you’ve wrapped everything up. You may want to meander and navel-gaze and concern yourself with the so ons and so forths, but the readers have come for the important stuff.
Sometimes, the important stuff is rendered ineffectual without the less-important stuff supporting it. But more often than not, a story has fat that can be trimmed. The reader doesn’t need to know every last little detail, even if some of them cover potential plot holes. A reasonably good story will warrant a reasonable suspension of disbelief. Don’t hesitate to murder your darlings.
This advice may seem obvious. However, this concept is far easier understood than executed. In my own recent experience editing the second draft of a manuscript, I’ve found something interesting. Oftentimes, my characters will give multiple reasons for making any one decision. And most of the time, if I cut out all but one of those reasons, the decision will feel stronger.
Why? Well, following a long line of reasoning is exhausting. And if not communicated properly, the logic might feel convoluted. One simple motivation for making a decision helps clarify the character’s values. The reader instantly understands who this person is and why they’re doing what they’re doing.
In summation, why waste time say lot word when few word do trick?
– AJG
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