A friend recently told me she had just decluttered her whole house in two weeks.
I’m in awe. It would take me two weeks just to clear a path to the back of our garage.
My friend was inspired by author Marie Kondo, who says we should keep only those things that make us happy or are absolutely necessary and bid a fond but firm farewell to the rest (The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organising).
Kondo says a decluttered environment becomes ‘a place where there are no unnecessary things, and our thoughts become clear’.
Sounds good.
But instead of tackling the garage (have to work up to that daunting task) I thought about how well this theory applies to writing.
Cluttered writing is not clear. Your point is in there somewhere but it’s hard to find. It’s like rummaging around in that crowded kitchen drawer to find the sticky tape. You know it’s in there, but it’s hiding under all those odds and ends you’re keeping ‘just in case’.
Cluttered writing is hard work. It takes mental effort to wade through long, complex sentences. Give your readers a break and prune back to the essentials. Imagine the difference between a cupboard overflowing with clothes you never wear and one with only classy essentials you wear regularly.
Cluttered writing is distracting. A beautiful ornament or child’s colourful painting will immediately capture attention when they’re not overwhelmed by household mess. Your message will have greater impact when you clear away the surrounding word-clutter.
Cluttered writing requires more space and time. Just as it’s easier to keep a decluttered room clean, you’ll produce cleaner copy by cutting excess words. You’ll also produce shorter documents that are less overwhelming and more likely to hold your readers’ attention.
Cluttered writing is confusing. It’s like having too many shoes to choose from. OK, so perhaps that’s not possible. But fuzzy writing full of fillers is easy to misunderstand. Be precise. Write tight. Make every word count.
Avoid these traps and you’ll be clutter-free in no time:
- meandering around the point—be 100% clear on what you need to say before you start writing
- redundancies—such as ‘advance planning’, ‘actual facts’, ‘combine together’
- nominalisations (turning verbs into nouns)—like ‘the consideration of’ instead of ‘consider’
- passive voice—for example, ‘the decision was taken’ instead of ‘we decided’
- qualifiers and modifiers—such as ‘a number of’, ‘very’, ‘really’
- unnecessary words—often words like ‘there is/there are’ and ‘that’ are not needed
- repetition—no need to say the same thing again, and again
- several words where one will do—such as ‘we progressed the development of’ instead of ‘we started’ or ‘we refined’ or ‘we developed’.
Cluttered
In order to write in a way that is clearly and easily understood, and in a way that doesn’t use too many words and take up too many pages, it is absolutely essential that you declutter your writing. Importantly, for you this means your writing will have improved clarity and improved readability. That means your audience will find your writing very easy to read and it will have more impact. This will help to make the point with greater efficiency and accuracy.
Decluttered
Only the words in italics are necessary:
In order to write in a way that is clearly and easily understood, and in a way that doesn’t use too many words and take up too many pages, it is absolutely essential that you declutter your writing. Importantly, for you this means your writing will have improved clarity and improved readability. That means your audience will find your writing very easy to read and it will have more impact. This will help to make the point with greater efficiency and accuracy.
Result
Declutter your writing for improved clarity, readability, impact, efficiency and accuracy.
Want to check if your writing is lean or flabby?
Drop your words into the Writer’s Diet test for an instant diagnosis.
Right.
Nothing for it … I’m off to sort out the garage.
If you don’t hear from me within a few weeks, better send out the search party.
| Cinden Lester has more than 25 years’ experience as a professional writer, editor and communications specialist. She worked as a broadcast journalist, in private sector marketing and public relations, and in government communications before establishing her own Canberra-based communications consultancy in 2000.
Contact Cinden if you’d like help with your writing. |
