Clients often ask WORDS to “work our magic” on a piece of copy that has been written in-house. All the necessary information is there but for some reason it doesn’t get the message across. Usually, the problem is that it has been buried under so much verbiage that the key points are lost in long, rambling paragraphs. Often, sentences are so tortuously twisted that they have to be read several times before you can understand what they mean.
To be a good writer you have to write tighter, communicating your message concisely. Some of the greatest thoughts and most influential ideas in history have been expressed in surprisingly few words. Did you know that The Ten Commandments are just 130 words? Kipling’s seminal poem ‘If’ is less than 300 words long and the American Declaration of Independence is just 485 words. On the other hand, an EC internal memo on aubergine production and marketing issued in Brussels hit a word count of 9,800! No prizes for guessing which of these examples is the most readable.
Remember, writing is always most effective when it is clear and direct.
