Wasteful Writing?

This week found me busy revising two things: A novelette and a short story. The short story ended up taking all week for me to revise, because it ended up being a lot longer than the first draft. It also ended up being something entirely different than the first draft! Part of the revision process was to do research on my story’s main symbol, which is a tree. My research helped me to “flesh out” the story and have everything happening with that tree make sense.

 

The novelette I revised also ended up being a lot longer than its first draft. There were times during the revision process when I couldn’t figure things out. When this happens, I usually step away from the writing and do other things while I try to figure that out. In this case, I went on a drive with my son. At one stop, I was suddenly inspired, so I whipped out my phone and started writing in the Notes app. After we got home, I transferred what I wrote to the story file, but I noticed that what I’d written could be better. I fixed it up and was satisfied with it enough to move on.

 

In both cases, I started to wonder: Was the time I spent writing those first drafts wasted? And did I waste my efforts in writing something that ended up being terrible?

 

In both cases, I believe the answer is no.

 

If you want to write something, you have to start somewhere – even if it’s a first draft that will ultimately never see the light of day. (How many first drafts actually get published?) Also, it’s important to write anything you feel could be USEFUL to your WIP, even if you feel the writing sucks.

 

The point is to write. Plant the seeds of your idea by getting it down onto paper, then “water” it by revising it so that it can grow into something wonderful. Something you can be proud of.

 

Even if you don’t use something you wrote in your final draft, it’s still something that helped you to keep your focus on the work at hand and stay connected to your writing process. Any writing is better than no writing at all, and it is definitely not a waste of time if you manage to get the words onto the page instead of keeping them in your head.

 

And while I’m on the subject of writing, here is a quote from the August 23, 2024 issue of C. Hope Clark’s newsletter, FundsforWriters: “As writers, we are an endless supply of words. Each line we write improves us. And the more we have to practice at our craft, the better we get.”

 

Make Your Words Count

 

One goal I had when I started this monthly writing challenge was to make all of the blog posts short. I have noticed that, with online content, shorter is better.

 

In order to bypass this demand for shorter content, a lot of companies and website owners started using this trick: Making each block of paragraphs shorter. These short paragraphs normally contained 2 or 3 sentences.

 

This visual trick enabled the content to appear “short.” A fast read.

 

Unfortunately, most of my posts ended up being longer than I wanted them to be. A lot of them were over 500 words. I guess I just had too much to say or there was a lot of information to share.

 

With blogs, you really have a lot of wiggle room with how short or long your posts can be. It’s entirely your choice.

 

Many blog writers have found, however, that shorter is usually better. Shorter gets more clicks. Shorter gets more reads. Shorter gets more shares.

 

And, in some cases, shorter is all you get.

 

With both freelance writing and content writing, I have been assigned a certain word count on assignments. Some had to be under 1000 words while others could be as long as 2000 words.

 

But in other cases, I have had to write shorter content. Some of them with as low as 300 words.

 

When you are in a situation like this, you have to make your words count. You have to be selective in your word choice.

 

Your writing must engage your reader. So if you only have a low amount of words available to use, you have to use active language. Avoid passive writing and writing that rambles. Delete the fluff. Omit irrelevant words.

 

Another thing to keep in mind for writing short content is to make sure you stick only to the facts. Don’t add opinions or suggestions. Get right to the point straight out the gate.

 

Additionally, for short content, you need to get creative with words. Instead of “a lot of” you can use “many” instead. Use “some” instead of “a handful.” Think of other, shorter ways to rephrase your writing.

 

While most readers may not have a problem with reading lengthy content, editors know what their readers want – and how long they want it. Therefore, most will assign a shorter word count to writers.

 

As far as blog posts and social media posts are concerned, the shorter, the better. Grab your readers’ attention and take them to your content, where they’ll see that a short piece awaits their reading pleasure. And for shorter content, especially for online content, it will be a pleasure for them to read.