↪ In theory, high info density helps you tell more. More about your services. Your Products. And the other similar aspects. However, each move has a second side. You will encounter some key disadvantages as you write or tell more.
Passion is awesome. And nothing is wrong with it.
But, the life is a rat race, And many have to keep running, to ensure the paychecks arrive without the delays. "All gotta pay the bills, ya know, pal." Yes, this sentence was culturally insensitive.
So, why should you write less?
For starters, you can do a quick-skimming of one of my other blogs:
Most posts written there, carry a poetic vibe. And you can note the sheer length of each statement. As the density of ideas increase, the user takes longer to read it. Unless you are comfortable reading eBooks, you would find the text confusing.
And this does not make anyone less intelligent.
See, for those of us who grew up in 'hyper-academic' environment, it's a must. Using the simple words and short sentences means 'dumbing down' your drafts. To sound intelligent, one can always rely on 'profound' vocabulary. In fact, I enjoy some books of particular topics, even if the sentences seem lengthy.
But I am human. You are human. All are humans. Thus, there is always that one topic which you don't figure out, no matter what.
On a personal note, I used to enjoy mathematics till the trigonometry showed its true colours. And I loved Chemistry. But after the Complex Compound concepts, we have to break up. The funny part is, I would often under-estimate Probabilities and Statistics. And I never understood what was going on in Economics class.
Then, the miracle happened.
The YouTube video which made me Economics-enthusiast
Why does the teachers exist? You thoughts? Add your in Comments afterwards. My question was simple back then. We had the books. And we knew how to read (or we had thought so).
Also, this is the twenty-first century. And if only remembering the paragraphs and the formulae was the main game, why were we sent to the schools?
See, I am a promoter and believer of Self-Regulated Learning or SRL. For the time being, I am linking to this WikiPedia Page which discusses SRL. Yes, I know. But that page helped in a lot back when nobody had faith in Self-Learning.
The books carry an academic style of writing. You know it's an academic reference book the moment you open the Index. Academics and Artists must stay neutral or alert with their craft. At least, a similar 'tradition' is popular.
The result? A lot passive voice. Attributing all actions with implications or silent indications, helps keep their craft free of conflicts. Let's not forget how friendly tone can undermine the seriousness of an idea.
But our teachers can simplify the ideas into digestible notes.
If you edit your content using HemingWay, you know the basic drill. It goes something like this:
- Cut down the long sentences into short sentences.
- Remove too many Adjectives.
- Eliminate the Adverbs as much as you can.
- Ensure the Transition Verbs to create a 'flow' for the reader. e.g. And, But, Or, Hence, So, etc.
- Replace the advanced vocabulary with High-School Level words.
- Reduce the size of the paragraphs.
- Set the line-spacing to 1.3 to 1.5 times of the font-size, depending on the:
- Font Family,
- Font Stroke Thickness and Variations in the stroke,
- Colour Contrast between the Font and the text background colour,
- The visual 'feel' of reader-friendly Word Density
- Convert all Passive Voice moments into Active Voices.
The common-sense suggest to take above steps with a grain of salt. Which rules to break (as a guideline), depends on your Readers and your Goals for writing.
But the best part is telling a Story using Visual Language. The diagrams, geometry, graphs, photos, drawing and the sketches, help you learn faster. Your highlighters and coloured chalks served many purposes. And if you add Animation to you Storytelling, you take this game to a Next Level.
Thus, a video by Ray Dalio on YouTube, helped me a lot. I began looking at Economics more sincerely. Here are the details about the video:
Video Project Title: How The Economic Machine Works by Ray Dalio
Meta Info: 31 minutes video on YouTube, on channel 'Principles by Ray Dalio', with CC / Subtitles.
If you notice, there is not much 'special terminology' from Finance, Public Policy or Human Behaviour Sciences. You can find many videos with Lectures about Statistics, Estimations and Budget Management. But this video is special. Because it is not trying to sound so smart.
Instead, the content is written and animated so anyone could learn the ideas.
That's the power of 'Simple' language. In fact, if you are a Copywriter or creating an Ad, you should go with basic English to reach more people.
Side-note: I ain't a fan of Reading Levels
It's true that I have titled this post as 'Writing Less but More Effectively' and so, I shouldn't be contradicting myself. With all due respect for Reading Level concepts, I would love to shed some light, on the dark side of Reading Levels.
See, if I am rewriting your draft to reduce its Reading Level, I am offering a Service.
But if I am writing a Blog Post for my personal projects, I want to experiment with the words. Yes, this results in eBook vibes in some posts. Not kidding here. I have monitored the Reading Levels on the dark-mode blog mentioned earlier. And certain posts have Reading Levels beyond Grade 10 or even Grade 14! (By the way, a good writer must avoid Exclamation marks, i.e. !)
First of all, many methods are available for Reading Level Assessment.
Second of all; the abstract ideas like your Interest in a Topic, could affect your Reading Level Compatibility. So, a person who loves Vehicles or Computers can read about them at a Higher RL. If you dislike History, Economics, Finance, Psychology or Literature; you might find reading about them difficult.
So, I do not wish to limit a human-beings 'exposure' to diverse ideas, because some RL Label or Category. I never understood about what Adam Smith had written in Wealth of Nations. Even now, I understand only the description about Goods and Services, changing hands between the countries. I don't know what Money wages, Real wages and Capacity Utilisation mean.
But after graduating with a Civil Engineering degree, I am less afraid of reading Wealth of Nations.
Thus, you might find reading a Thesis, Legal Document or Contract a tough nut to crack, because of lacking 'familiarity; with the related terminology. If you read something twice, you might understand it better. If you write your own notes, you can simplify better. If you try to explain the concepts using a Daily Life Activity, you would visualise the Core Principles better.
At least, this is what I believe. And as I am not a News Network, I am going to use #Opinion when sharing this post on my Social Accounts.
At the end of the day, you increase the importance of each verb by removing the adverbs. And you enhance clarity of your copy draft, by using shorter sentences. These results are as real as oxygen in air.
So, farewell for today. And if you find this content interesting, share it with your friends, family and social media followers. Each of your 'Share' means a lot to every writer, blogger, vlogger and creator, out there in the world.
