i hate the push into concise writing

concise writing can be cool if it's your style! it's not mine though

Let me set the scene. I finish writing an assignment for a writing class. The professor is a stickler about typos and such, so I click on the Editor button under Review. There is one spelling error in which I used a dash instead of just making a compound word. Then there’s a myriad of fixes for “Conciseness:” take out really, take out definitely, change this phrase to just one word, get rid of this preposition, and so on. Maybe I’m extra sensitive today, but this aggravates me deeply. What is wrong with throwing in adverbs or using a phrase instead of a single word to add some variety to my writing? The idea of being limited to a handful of words instead of incorporating other phrases in the name of conciseness sounds so sterile to me.

Of course, I’m not trying to criticize concise writing — if that’s your style, then I’m sure you make it work. I, however, find my style to not be short and concise, as I’m sure regular readers can recognize my love for adverbs and long sentences. I’m just saying that I don’t think not being as concise as possible should seem like a mistake or wrongdoing that needs to be corrected by a spelling/grammar editor. Sentences should be clearly understood, yes, but I’m using however many words I’m using on purpose.

I’ve also read some articles where people agree with sentiments like this. The quote below from this article speaks to me especially:

Any list of the typical absolutes in contemporary writing instruction—shun adverbs, loathe the passive voice, cut latinate words, use short sentences—has the character of, at best, limiting the threat of mistakes because it removes so many tools. If you’re only permitted one note on the piano, perhaps it’s a little easier to keep it tuned.

I want to try new things in my writing and go beyond a one-size-fits-all approach. I want to experiment, explore, ruminate, fixate, etc. in my sentences and bring the reader along for the journey. Another point from the aforementioned article: “The delight of good writing comes from the sudden awareness that you’re sharing a trajectory of thought with the writer, in a manner that, at its best, is remarkably intimate.” I feel like remarkable writers such as Bell Hooks have this quality; when I read her writing, I feel like she is positioning the idea perfectly in my mind so it slips right in and feels natural. I want to write like that, and I want to write like all the authors I love that are not often writing as concisely as possible. In fact, I probably write the way I write because of the type of writing I love to read. My writing conveys my thoughts, and my thoughts are long, windy, up, down, and all around. It doesn’t feel right to slice them up into nice, slim chunks.

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I notice this push, albeit gently, in some of my classes. We are shown statistics that younger people only spend 7 minutes a day reading, so anyone writing needs to convince their reader as quickly as possible to keep reading. This implies a need to be concise and get straight to the point. I get that in terms of marketing and engagement and all, but what does that do to our writing? I know so many people who choose to spend 1+ hours reading on the days that they have the time for it, whether digitally or in print. For example, Wattpad says its Gen-Z users spend 37 minutes a day on average using their app. People who are interested in reading will read, and I’d rather cater my content towards them. This is easy to say as someone who writes for fun and not career, but that helps keep the whole writing thing fun. Fun to write, and (hopefully) fun to read.

I guess I’ll end my little rant here. I haven’t really had a ton of spare time for writing outside my classes (for some reason, some of my engineering homework has become writing short essays??), but I thought this would be easy to write about since it was on my mind. I also got to use some stats I learned in class, and I am a big fan of info-dumping all the new and interesting things I learn. Let me know what you think about what I’ve written about! I only really chipped the surface of this whole ordeal, so maybe I’ll return to this idea when I have more time for a deeper dive. This is just a small part of my own personal experience with writing and being taught writing in college.