Shorth, not length

Another evolution in my writing was terseness.

I dislike wordy books, lectures, and sermons; as a non-soporific professor, I use as few words as possible! To quote Dr. Suess, “Shorth is better than length.”

Dr. Charlie Moorman taught his USM grad students this rewrite formula. 1. if a clause can be said in a phrase, do so. 2. if a phrase can be said with a word do so. 3. if you can omit the word and retain the meaning, do so.

As a writer I strive to 1) recreate my thoughts on paper and 2) use as few words as possible. (103 wds)

The above was originally 126 words. You might, of course, have loved those omitted words! (Now I’m up to 118.)

I use Michelangelo’s sculpting to illustrate the rewrite process. He starts with a huge block of marble in which he sees his statue: the writer begins with a rough draft in which he sees his thesis. Michelangelo then picks up chisel and mallet to chip away everything that doesn’t belong on his statue: the writer eliminates clauses, phrases, words that do not advance his thesis. Michelangelo polishes his David or Pieta: the writer makes this rhythms and diction communicate the thesis. (¶ originally 96: revised 81)

Of course Michelangelo did not have to create his hunk of marble, but he did need to find the slab that contained his entire concept. And the rough draft must contain the entire concept.

The major drawback of terseness is time and a love of meaningless words and phrases: the verb to be, there, it, this, for example. The major advantage of terseness is a much clearer understanding of ones thesis, the raison d’etre of composing. (275)

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Of course Michelangelo did not create the marble, but he did find the slab that contained his entire concept. And the rough draft must contain the entire thesis.

Time and a love of meaningless words -- the verb to be, there, it, this, for example -- defeat terseness. But, its major advantage is a much clearer understanding of one’s thesis, the raison d’etre of composing. (262)

Word count excludes parenthetic elements.

Here’s the shortest poem I’ve written.

PURPOSE

Faith is given to the faithless,

Given by the love of God,

Used by us to do His will,

To take the paths that Jesus trod.