The mini-skirt guide to short, tight business writing

1. Short, tight sections

As its length increases, your writing becomes more difficult to read. People are ‘busy and important', after all, and don't have the time, inclination or attention span to wade through heaps of wording. For this reason, breaking your text (email, letter, report, proposal, brochure, quote, etc.) into several shorter sections, or chunks, makes it more digestible.

Or at least, look more digestible.

And the best way to divide text into sections? Use numbers, so that your points are listed in order of importance. Use bullets, so that each new section is set off from the ones before and after. Or use big, bolded sub-heads, so that sections with a lot of copy become easier to spot, scan and assimilate.

Please note:

I'm not advocating being brief to the exclusion of all value. After all, brevity is not always possible; you may have a lot to say. So don't feel obliged to chop important facts and info, just to keep it short. Instead, ensure that each point is expressed briefly, and you will have achieved something far more important: conciseness.

2. Short, tight paragraphs

My delegates also wet themselves when I tell them that the average reader is like a monkey. He or she can only peel one banana at a time, which is why each paragraph should feature only one message. So, as soon as your train of thought changes, it's time to press ‘Enter'.

Not only does this ensure that you structure every paragraph neatly around a single core topic, it also helps to prevent you from using long streams of unbroken and intimidating type. Readers hate this, because it looks like hard work, so it's a good idea to use lots of white space (visual ‘breathing room') and to break long paragraphs into two or three shorter ones.

3. Short, tight sentences

Short sentences are easier to read than long sentences (they're crisper, cleaner and snappier), but there's another big bonus to writing short: you have less room in which to mangle your grammar.

Rudolf Flesch, author of The Art of Plain Talk, says that the ideal average sentence length is 14 - 16 words, and I wholeheartedly agree. Because when you venture into the 20 - 25 word range, the reader gets to the end and simply can't remember what you said at the beginning.

To monitor your average sentence length, use the ‘readability statistics' function in Microsoft Word.

4. Short, tight words

Using big words makes us feel smart. It gives us confidence and helps us to bolster what we see as weak or flimsy writing. It adds a bit of snobby padding to a skimpy document. But the reality is that fancy phrases, pompous expressions and flowery language do more harm than good. They take up precious space, distract readers and erect a wall between the audience and the actual message.

So... use short, simple words. Here's my rule: if you'd feel like a twit saying it, don't write it. Which cancels out workplace favourites like: aforementioned, hence, hereto, herewith, thereby, etc. It's also a good idea to choose ‘use' over ‘utilise', ‘happen' over ‘transpire', ‘help' over ‘facilitate', and so on.

Again, to monitor your average word length, use Microsoft Word's ‘readability statistics' function.

5. Short, tight attention span

Good business writing, as you'll know if you've ever encountered any, gets to the point. It sparkles with clarity. And every single word has a role to play and a task to fulfill. There's simply no space, in good business writing, for waffle, redundancy, or long lists of adjectives. That's why it's good.

In your writing, try to avoid using six words (‘in light of the fact that') when you could use one (‘because'). Try not to say the same thing twice (‘reverse back', ‘surrounded on all sides'). And try to omit needless words (‘a specific example'; ‘during the course of', ‘in actual fact', ‘regular monthly meetings').

The mini-skirt philosophy says it's okay to:

• end a sentence with a preposition, because it adds to the natural, conversational tone of the writing;
  
• use contractions (you're, don't), which endow your words with a compelling sense of rhythm;
  
• use sentence fragments, because they add drama and flow to your writing (subject to context);
  
• begin sentences with conjunctions, which make for smooth, easy transitions between thoughts; and
  
• use one-sentence paragraphs, which provide a change of pace that livens up any piece of writing.

Disclaimer:

If, however, your audience is ‘of a certain age' or your boss is a certain kind of uptight purist, it's probably safer to stick to the old rules. Business writing is like gambling; the house usually wins.

I'm going to paraphrase the genius of Robert W Bly, author of The Copywriter's Handbook, when I give you my last little piece of mini-skirt advice: Say what you mean in as few words as possible. And when you're finished, stop.