The best circulation paths allow people to move without being interrupted. There’s nothing to trip them up, get in the way, or lead them in the wrong direction. There may even be unexpected moments of delight along the journey.
Ever noticed great writing does the same?
When you aim for clarity and flow in your messaging, everything else falls into place. You create space for emotion.
There’s no right or wrong process for achieving this. But a good starting point is to follow a simple storytelling framework, deliver each talking point concisely, and, drumroll… Vary your sentence length.
Concise doesn’t always mean short
People often mistake being concise to mean “make every sentence short”. But as E.B. White explains, this actually means:
“A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”
Yes, short sentences are easier to read, but the repetition becomes monotonous. Too many staccato sentences can feel like a car juddering up a hill.
Instead, think about how a building’s sensory experience can be enhanced by a counterpoint, say a tall, bright space made more dramatic by a low, dark entry approach. In the same way, your writing will be more emphatic by juxtaposed sentence lengths. As long as they’re not cluttered with unnecessary complexity. See this beauty from Gary Provost:
Three steps
Once you’ve got clarity in what you want to say (and why its relevant to your reader), let your thoughts flow as you get your first draft down. Then prune each sentence until they’re stripped to their cleanest components.
You’ll be surprised by how many unnecessary words and jargon you can throw away, and how simply shifting certain sections around allows your message to glide from one thought to the next.
Less clutter. More flow.
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