This next tip is focused on writing technique and editing; one I find challenging:
Lower your posted word count.
It sounds counter intuitive but it makes for a cleaner and faster read. This depends on your content as for stories you do want more verbosity.
I know it can get out of control - just look at any of
my story posts! This is one of those tips that should be tackled by bloggers who want to refine their work.
For comparison, here is what this post looked like Pre-Edit:
This next tip is
more along the lines of focused on writing technique and editing
; one . It is also one I
, myself find
quite challenging
and by no means have I perfected it yet:
Lower your posted word count.
It sounds
very counter intuitive but it makes for a
much cleaner and faster read
in the long run. This
totally depends on
you and your content
though, as for stories you do want
to make it more verbose to a degree more verbosity.
From experience I know it can get
wildly out of control
though - just look at any of
my story posts!
Anyway, this is
just one of those
left of field tips that should
probably be tackled by bloggers who
are happy with the volume of content they produce and want to
take it to the next level through refinement refine their work.
This is one I'm absolutely guilty of (and the Neverwinter blog was also supposed to serve as a bit of a writing exercise in how to keep things shorter), but at the same time... I'm not really ashamed. :P I blame it on my first language being German, which is very fond of long and complex sentences.
ReplyDelete(As an aside, I think all those words you crossed out in your example made the post sound much friendlier!)
Wow, I never would have guessed from just reading your Neverwinter blog that you are a German speaker Shintar. :D
Delete*Knowledge of Shintar has increased by +0.1%!*
I'm in the same boat (i.e. native language German and fond of complex sentences), and I'm absolutely convinced that there's a correlation. :-)
DeleteI have discussed this point with a variety of people and I have concluded the following:
ReplyDeleteBrevity and concise writing is fine for any post that is explanatory. Therefore guides and FAQs benefit immensely from economy of words.
Long and even verbose writing can be appealing to certain demographics. Sometimes you can more accurately express yourself when using florid language.
Being brief or long is also a style choice. It may be what keeps readers coming to your blog.
My problem is that it's not a choice yet. My default setting is to pepper everything with extra words! :P
DeleteYes! This is something that I both actively do and sometimes do too much. The challenge for me is finding a balance between flowery wording and being concise.
ReplyDeleteI think balance is step 3 for me... and I'm not there yet.
DeleteStep 1: Blog with lots of words.
Step 2: Refine refine refine (too much).
Step 3: Balance.
I'm on step 1. ^_^