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How to avoid verbose writing
Welcome to today’s issue of Efikó, a weekly newsletter by me, Dozie Anyaegbunam, with a focus on content marketing, writing, social strategy, and living your best life. THANK YOU for being here! I appreciate you.
Hello 👋
You all good?
It’s been a slow week for me - Thanksgiving week in the U.S., which means work slowed down for most of us who work across the longest international border between two countries (the Canada-United States border).
I have tried to rest. And it’s also been a time of reflection.
Next week Saturday is another trip around the sun. And I am grateful for where I am at the moment.
2021 has been good to me.
But enough about me. How are you doing?
Shoot me a message if you want to chat. Or need advice on anything.
Warning: I’m not a shrink, though!
Let’s get into today’s topic.
How to stop the verbose writing plague
As Nigerians — I can’t speak about other African countries — we tend to be rather verbose when writing (and speaking).
It’s something I struggle with. I come across this regularly when editing articles (written by my fellow Nigerian content writers).
The biggest problem I have seen with Nigerian writers (myself included) is that we are too lengthy.
It's said you couldn't solve something till you understand where it's coming from.
And my hypothesis is we were raised by people who ramble.
Listen to your parents, uncles, and older ones around you. You find that they struggle to get to the point most of the time. They tend to go on and on.
It’s a cultural thing, I think.
When I shared this in the NEW community, Lia Uzomah shared this insightful comment:
“Set awon, I hope with these few points of mine, I have been able to confuse you and not convince you that blah blah blah blah blah...😌😌 And the crowd goes wild😂 We like plenty talk and big grammar.”
This tweet by Cheta Nwanze and the response is another example of the cultural blight we are dealing with:
So can this be fixed?
I think you can try. The first thing I do when writing is to remind myself to turn off the need to expand on a point for the sake of expansion. But if we are being honest here, that’s a tough call.
Here are some practical steps you can take:
Write for your audience
For NEWville members, do you remember Erin Balsa’s “water is wet” analogy? Simply put, no need to define engineering for an engineer. Respect your audience and go straight to the point.
If you are writing for beginner content marketers, you can spend some time on definitions and explaining in detail. But if you aren’t, you’re allowed to define it in one sentence or leave it out altogether.
Your article doesn’t have to contain a “what is XYZ” section.
Use real words
Write for real people.
Forget all the buzzwords and jargon you see folks use to mask their insecurities and incompetence. Look, I’m not saying words like revolutionary, leverage, cutting-edge, paradigm, and its likes don’t have a place. They do.
But use them sparingly. And only if you have to. Kick all the jargon out and communicate to your reader in plain English. It’s always a breath of fresh air.
Don’t use words you wouldn’t use when talking to someone
Would you tell your colleague, “Let me ping you on that,” or would you say, “I’ll get back to you”?
Would you say, “Don’t over-index on advertising,” or would you say, “Don’t spend much on advertising”?
You get the idea.
Cut out weak verbs
Use strong and expressive verbs when writing. These verbs paint a vivid (I could have used the verb clear here) image in the reader’s mind—your writing springs to life.
For example:
Replace cut with slashed.
Replace found with unearthed.
Replace ran with pelted.
Replace smiled with giggled.
Capisce?
Any thoughts? Questions?
If you read one thing
This article on long-tail keywords by Tim Soulo of Ahrefs is an excellent way to start your holiday learning ahead of 2022.
Content tools
A content tool I discovered this week
The emoji combo site allows you to create emoji combos if you are looking to use more than one emoji at a time.
Not Enough Writers
The holidays are almost here. And if you aren’t sure if you need a break, here’s Brittany Ryan on the importance of taking a break as a freelance content marketer:
Know someone who might find Not Enough Writers beneficial? Please get them to sign up here!
Content writing jobs
And here’s a Google Docs link that also includes high-paying pitching opportunities
All the best, folks. Would you please share with any of your friends/colleagues who might find this helpful? 🙏🏾
My biggest takeaway this week 🚀
Grief is unexpressed love. Holding onto it is a way of staying close to the people we’ve lost.
What I’m thinking about
Too much challenge makes life hard, but so does too little.
If you would love me to review your writing and give you feedback, you can book a time here. Or just hit the reply button.
Thanks for reading this far. I am grateful!
Be good out there. If you can’t be good, be careful.
I’ll be back on 12/3.
Dozie
P.S: If you enjoyed this, please consider sharing it on LinkedIn or with a friend! If this was sent to you by a friend, get the following email by signing up here.
