If I had Longer I Would Write Shorter
Introduction
The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. - Thomas Jefferson
The ability to be concise and express a complex matter in simple terms is a skill that takes a lot of time, practice, and refinement. A sentence much like anything else shouldn't contain unneccesities, a functioning and useful watch contains everything it needs to operate and has nothing unnecessary put into the clockwork. The question of what is necessary in a text is more complex, and only really something which can be judged and answered by the author. What is it you want to convey? What is the purpose of your expression? No matter the art - no matter the expression: being concise makes it easier for others to understand your subject. Being able to convey complex thoughts, feelings, and ideas in a simple manner requires a certain degree of expertise, an expertise that is only gained through rigorous practice and a lot of dedicated time. Time is the most essential element when it comes to this. While this blog post will talk generally about the ability to keep things short and accurate I'm also going to reflect a bit about the past blog posts.
Time is of the Essence
Not only does it take a lot of time to understand a subject so well that you can confidently express it concisely, but it also takes a lot of time to refine and shave off all the unnecessary aspects. One needs to think about what is necessary and constantly examine the work with the question of - does this serve the purpose of expressing the core idea? In visual arts like painting, you need to think about lines, composition, and colour, in cooking about flavours, textures, etc, and in music about notes, lyrics, and so on. All artistic expression essentially needs to consider the same and that is the components that make up the finished work. Perhaps nowhere is this as apparent as in writing and speech where the problems and limitations inherited from human language come into play. When holding a speech, presentation, or similar you're also set on a time limit, then it's extra important to be able to be concise and get your point across with speed without compromising its quality. I also think it's very human to go on irrelevant tangents and especially when talking it's easy to be distracted by your stream of consciousness. It takes skill to be focused and stay on topic, and it's equally a skill to be able to say a lot of nothing and make it sound good, this monologuing with a complete lack of substance is best illustrated in politicians. An artist would do well to rid themselves of this dishonesty and not seek to inflate meaninglessness into their expression. What can we do then to keep to the point and keep our focus on what matters?
1. Limit the Scope
Pick one topic and limit the scope to this single topic. When you find yourself thinking about another topic take the time to stop and reflect, and remind yourself of the one thing worthy of your focus in this work. We may be reminded of something else and this is often how our stream of consciousness works; we may be thinking about a topic like fire which then sets aflame thoughts within us of boiling water, which leads us to tea, which leads us to other plants, and then to water because plants need water; and before we know it our focus has quickly shifted to the opposing element that we were initially discussing. When working and you find your thoughts leading you astray, stop and centre your mind on the topic at hand. If you have multiple things you want to express, you might have a list of 5 things or ideas that you feel worthy of exploring. Find the common demeanor between them and link them together using a common topic. Limit 5 seemingly different things to just a single one or two, keep it concise. If you can't find a way to fit all of them together then rid yourselves of some of them that stand out too much and explore them separately at a later date. While it might be fascinating to explore all the complex matters that go into human psychology for example, focus on one part at a time and master that knowledge before you express it.
2. Consider Your Language
Think about your target audience - who are you expressing this to? Are they knowledgeable about what you speak of? What limits their understanding? While an expert on any given subject may be tempted to use specific terms and highly specific language to make sure their expression is accurate this is a double-edged sword. Use layman terms when speaking to laymen and make sure your use of language isn't too advanced depending on who you are looking to talk to. If the audience has an understanding similar to your own, then it is of equal importance to not speak too simply, as technical terms exist to allow for clear and accurate communication. Be conscious of what words you use and in what way you use them. With language in mind - get rid of unnecessary words and redundant phrases. It's easy to want to fill and add extra words to make up for a lack of substance but this often takes away from the message you're trying to get across. Eliminate vague language, ambiguous words may have some place in certain situations but when trying to express something concisely they are often superfluous. "Very", "really", "sort of", and "to a certain extent" are all examples of vague wording that do not add to your message. The final component to keeping a text concise is the ability to edit and remove the unnecessary.
3. Editing and Refining
This is especially applicable to writing but is also applied in most other arts. Once you've considered your language, remove the things stated above and cut down on the text to make it more coherent and focused. Rephrase and reshape your expression to better be fitting of its purpose. When it comes to writing but also painting an important thing to consider here is readability. Dividing your texts into paragraphs, bullet points, etc allows the text to not only be more approachable from a reader's point but also for yourself as you edit and work. Clear sections let you focus on where in a text something should be. In painting this is mostly your composition - the main subject should be visible and distinguishable from the rest. In clear sections, you have the background, foreground, and middle ground. If you're making a portrait you have to keep your focus on the face of the person, a background that takes away too much attention makes the composition convoluted and confused. This is especially true for abstract paintings, and far too often I see abstract paintings that are cluttered or unfocused. A good abstract piece is concise and clear in what it is. Keeping these things in mind will make sure that your work is concise. With this, I will now reflect a little bit about my work, especially focusing on these blogposts.
The Stream of Consciousness From Which We Drink
I have been writing and posting these blog posts weekly now since the start of the summer, it is a time investment that is well worth it. They are a challenge, especially on some days but overall they keep me busy illustrating, thinking, and writing. All skills I enjoy and value. I hope you feel like you get something out of it as well. The biggest personal critique I have is how unconcise some of them have been. Most of them are written from a flow of consciousness and involve little editing. In this case, I have valued consistency over being concise. It's something I intend to prove because I want the posts to be interesting and informative to read, and not something which bores you to sleep. However I don't want to compromise on the colour of the language, because I love the English language and the ways you can express yourself, it's incredibly rich. Editing is probably my least favourite part of any writing and is often something that I leave until the very end. For me to finish a text I have to write from that stream of consciousness, when the tap is opened it just flows and I have to use that momentum to catch as much as I can. After the fact then I set out to make it more digestible. I lack any kind of formal training and have little to no expertise when it comes to writing, I just have a lot of personal experience as I have for very long written extensively for my own sake. To share that with the world is something pretty new to me still, and so I ask for your patience and oversight as I figure it out. My goal is to improve, it always has been and part of that improvement for me is sharing with all of you some of the early prototypes and imperfect work. I'm not happy with everything I write or paint, but it's fun to look back and see the progress, and in sharing these works I hope to instill some courage in you as well. The things you create won't be perfect on the first try and it takes a lot of time to get there - and that's perfectly fine.
The blogposts I have written and shared so far have been general and impersonal, something I am still looking to do but I would also like to share some more personal anecdotes and experiences. I have tackled some more difficult subjects, some of which can't be limited to just a few pages on a website. I hope to be still able to write about such topics but with a little more focus and intention. I am happy with the consistency which I have been writing with and I hope to improve on the other fronts. Thank you as always for reading this and if you have anything you would like to say feel free to reach out!
