Knowing What to Leave Out

Articles are like suitcases meticulously packed. Fill them with exactly what you need for the pending trip, and nothing you don't.

Knowing what to leave out is the critical skill in professional writing.

Anyone can dump their notebook onto the page and say, "Here, you sort through and make sense of all of this."

Writing succinctly is easier said than done, of course. It's a skill that comes with long practice — and one that is greatly improved by working with cool-headed editors who aren't in the weeds with the source material like you are.

Here are some of the strategies I employ:

Put yourself in the reader's shoes. What is critical for them to take away, and what merely nice to know? What's your main goal for the reader — awareness, action, etc. — and does every part of your piece support that goal? As one former boss liked to put it: Get right to the point and then stop.

Ask yourself how much of a reader's time the topic is worth. How long are they actually likely to spend reading about your scientific discovery, your product, your company's culture, etc.? Whatever that number is, don't write more than that!

If your story is feeling flabby, your focus might not be clear enough. Can you answer the question of what your story is about in a single sentence? If not, you probably need to refine your thinking. Or maybe you're trying to cram two stories into a one-story casing.

Ultimately, each story should be about one thing. But, taking a lesson from Curly, what that thing is, that's for you to figure out.

Option: Write the full universe of your source material, then edit ruthlessly. Depending on the assignment, sometimes it's best to get all the pieces down on paper in order to see how best to rearrange and cut. You might be trimming to meet a word limit, or just to pare down so only your strongest material is left.

Option: If length is a concern, mark optional trims as you go. I've come to a point where I usually just take this material out myself before turning in an assignment. Or you can make your editor do it for you.

Think of your story like pearls on a necklace. Each section, each beat, each moment should be a polished gem, accomplishing a specific purpose. Fine-tune them individually and then string them together. I've found this approach most helpful for longer narratives and investigations, but it can work for shorter pieces, too.

If it bores you, it will bore your readers! Follow the advice of novelist Elmore Leonard and leave out any boring parts.

Clarity beats comprehensiveness every time. A 30-minute interview might get boiled down to one sentence and a quote. (Or may end up entirely as background.) A 60-page scientific journal article might be explained in 800 words. You're never going to get everything in, so don't even try. That's not our job. Just put in what's needed to accomplish the piece's mission. No more and no less.

Push yourself. When you've finished your draft, challenge yourself to trim 10%. Or 20%, if you're feeling inspired and/or masochistic.

Get a second set of eyes on everything you write, even if you don't formally have an editor. Always, always.

Many thanks to Mary Kate Schmermund for some excellent discussion on the topic last week!

Further Reading

• 8 Ways to Write Shorter Stories, Poynter