Cut to the chase

Hi Storytellers!

The world is obsessed with quick, effective communication. So, naturally, what I get asked a lot is: “How do I get my point across in a concise but still impactful way?”

What are the ingredients for giving the right amount of context and creating space to connect? And how do you avoid losing readers due to stating the obvious and getting lost in backstories?

Today I’d like to talk about this delicate balance.

Ready? Let’s ride! 🌊

Becoming a concise storyteller takes practice and time. What many of us don’t realize is that writing is thinking. An inexperienced storyteller talking off the top of their head ends up rambling or going into too much detail where there’s no need to.

It’s only when we are crystal clear about the idea we want to convey and the supporting stories/arguments that we can say more with fewer words.

Effective storytelling is the act of sacrificing all the “interesting” information (that can be omitted) to champion the right information/story.

But there’s no right or wrong word count to be considered a concise storyteller.

Think of it like this: Effective storytelling is a delicate art of grabbing and handling the attention of others with respect and care. The longer you engage them, the higher the stakes are to deliver on your promise/hook.

All of this sounds nice, but I know why you are here.

Let me show you 3 variables you can play with to become both a concise and impactful storyteller that gets the point across.

3 tactics to make your writing concise without losing the essence of your story

When you’re scrolling on Linkedin, does it ever go like this:

Boring

Boring

Boring

Hmm..different —> See more —> God, too much text —> Leave

Boring

Boring

You get the gist of it.

Great ideas can be ruthlessly trashed in the valley of the forgotten. That is when they’re ‘packaged‘ (a.k.a written) poorly.

Here’s how to do better 👇

1. Paint mental pictures and remove the cognitive overload

Passive voice and adverbs are the worst enemies of understanding and concise storytelling. Let me explain. Or rather, I’ll let Stephen King sprinkle his wisdom:

To be more concise and work with emotion, you can change the verb “close” and use another, stronger verb instead, e.g., “He slammed the door.” Our brain creates mental images while reading a story. And strong verbs translate to clearer images than weak, redundant adverbs.

Now you might think: But I don’t write fiction; I write emails. Guess what? We use plenty of adverbs that take up space and say nothing in emails, too. Check your last emails for all “really, very, truly.” Get rid of them. It’ll help increase your authority.

The second deadly sin is passive voice and complicated expressions. We learned that these are a sign of an educated person. And you’ll only be respected by other educated people if you talk and write this way. Wrong.

Using passive voice or uncommon expressions doesn’t help to attract smart people to your writing. Smart people need to also think harder to understand your point. And we are lazy. So make your writing clear and easy to read.

If your goal is to deliver your message with ease, here’s a Verb Simplification Guide 101 from Eddie Shleyner.

2. Let your storytelling sing and make it easy on the eye

The length of your text is not the problem. It’s the lack of variety. When your sentence length follows the same pattern without any variation, your readers will leave. According to Gary Provost, the best writing is like music. It has a pleasant rhythm and offers variety.

Writing shouldn’t only be music to your brain but also visually appealing. Consider this example by copywriter Jasmin Alic. Your eyes can skim through the post, and it’s weirdly satisfying to look at. Your brain tells you: “This seems easy; let’s give it a shot and read it!” This never happens when you see a long paragraph with more than 5 full lines of text.

And if you should only apply one rule to break down your text, let it be the rule of three. Our brains love 3’s. One gives you a choice without any alternative. Two feels too black & white, binary. But three opens the world of possibilities without overwhelming you. Categorize arguments and ideas in three. It works.

3. Bend the rules of time

Concise writing means prioritizing. Giving more space to the crucial part of the story and cutting the redundant parts.

In his book Storyworthy, Matthew Dicks talks about the most important, singular focus of every story. It’s a moment of realization, the moment when something transformed in you. Every detail you mention needs to build up to that moment and make sense to the reader in hindsight.

What does that mean for your writing? Do you know that moment in the movies when the last emotional bit takes over 30 min, even though in real life, it’d have taken 5 min or less? That is what you want to focus on.

Once you write your story, examine it part by part. If you move this part out, would the story still make sense? If yes, delete it. If not, keep it.

As a general rule, it helps to reduce the number of backstories, characters that are not essential to the main moment, and descriptions.

Were the tips today helpful?

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Talk soon,

-Dominika