Condensed Ink
Condensed Ink
“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” This is a very short (and very sad) story that Ernest Hemingway wrote—allegedly to win a bet. Knowing him, it was a bar bet. He considered it his best work, and it’s easy to see why. Always lauded for his bare-bones prose, “Papa” packed more into these six words than many writers do in hundreds of pages. And it’s not even a complete sentence.
So, why do journalists and bloggers and content developers resist limiting their words? Why is there an aversion to whittling down to the essentials? Well, I’m about to blow the lid off of an industry secret: They resist because it’s hard work.
No, really, it’s as simple as that. Nothing’s easier than pounding out word after word, never considering your readers’ time or your communication’s clarity. (Ayn Rand, I’m talking to you.) We’ve all fallen prey to them, these super-typists. We’ve all scrolled through a blog entry and balked at reading thousands of words on a topic like “The Best Ham I Ever Ate.” (No offense intended, ham.)
In contrast, nothing’s harder than honing your work until it delivers a message with impact and clear thought. As professional communicators, we always battle word count—and it’s a losing battle. It’s a losing battle because paper costs money, and because readers only give you so much attention before they tune out. And that’s good; it keeps us from turning into Walt Whitman. (I like Walt, but “Song of Myself” is a 1300-plus-line poem. Try pitching that one to the client.) And really, who’d want to read a 200-page e-newsletter packed with symbolism and high speech?
When I’m revising a draft before publication, I often think of the scene in A River Runs Through It, in which Tom Skerritt’s character tells his son to rewrite a paper “but make it half as long.” Then I usually start thinking about fishing, and I sneak out of the office and postpone the revising. And now, as I return from the stream and look back at this particular post, I realize that maybe I should’ve taken a page from Ernest’s book and simply written six words: Word count’s good; embrace it, y’all.
Or maybe not.
Do you think you could tell a story in six words or less? Show me your stuff in the comments. And not something like “I went to the gas station,” but words that carry emotion and tell a deeper story than just what’s on the page. Give it a shot; I absolutely guarantee you’ll have fun (*not a guarantee).
Photo by Constance Wiebrands
Posted By: Danny Ammons
Comment(s): 15 | (+) Add a Comment
Danny Ammons said on 18 Jan, 2011 at 5:04 AM
Oh, and extra points to Leslie S for having possibly the most heart-wrenching post of the bunch: "Post-crash, only their baby survived." There's a screenplay in this somewhere for Lifetime network.
Danny Ammons said on 18 Jan, 2011 at 4:59 AM
Wow. You guys are just too good. In reading these, I was reminded of an even shorter story I read at some point:
Coughin', coffin.
Another uplifting entry for this, and my hat's off to those of you who managed humorous ones. Good on ya, and thanks again for reading and commenting.
AB said on 17 Jan, 2011 at 10:19 AM
Got the results, test was positive.
leslie s said on 17 Jan, 2011 at 8:44 AM
Post-crash, only their baby survived.
Marcia J said on 13 Jan, 2011 at 12:44 PM
Action is eloquence. Writing is hard.
Waynette Goodson said on 13 Jan, 2011 at 9:27 AM
"It ended when he couldn't remember what she couldn't forget."
Perhaps condensed ink works better with sad topics?
Danny Ammons said on 12 Jan, 2011 at 6:00 AM
Thanks for the great thoughts, all. "Papa" might just've met his match with these posts
Judy Kenninger said on 11 Jan, 2011 at 6:41 AM
13 years & 4 kids.
Caller ID: You
My heart leaps.
Lucky us.
Annie Ferguson said on 11 Jan, 2011 at 6:11 AM
"I had dreams; then life happened."
Judy Kirkwood said on 11 Jan, 2011 at 5:01 AM
Found your cellphone. Don't call. Ever
Matthew Mullen said on 11 Jan, 2011 at 4:40 AM
"Dude, that smells funny." "It's fine."
Leslie S said on 10 Jan, 2011 at 9:06 AM
Was it Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) who once said, "I wanted to write you a short letter, but I didn't have the time...?"
It always takes more time and thought to be succinct.
Hemingway nailed it.
Brian Cook said on 10 Jan, 2011 at 7:52 AM
Life isn't fair, but should be.
Alicia said on 10 Jan, 2011 at 4:55 AM
Great post! I love that scene in A River Runs Through It, that and the one where the kid won’t eat his dinner and has to sit at the table for hours. (That’s how I spent much of my childhood, though they didn’t show the part where I’d sneak back down in the middle of the night to pour myself a bowl of Fruity Pebbles.) Those are indeed six BIG little words from Hemingway, but it makes me wonder if it's usually easier to go for melancholy in these pithy pieces, so that they still convey a lot of emotion. A la the famed shortest verse in the Bible: "Jesus wept." I'm no Biblical scholar, but there's a lot of story wrapped up in those two words, too.
Lynn Gianiny said on 10 Jan, 2011 at 4:49 AM
Still not home - left years ago.
Danny Ammons
Danny is an editor.
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