I wholly believe in being succinct. I don't like wasting words and I hate repeating myself. That said, I am not opposed to reinforcing my ideas.
Sometimes there is no single word to express how significant something is. If I am explaining the lynchpin of a plan, 'important', 'crucial', even 'dire' does not express the degree to which its success is necessary and its failure will be catastrophic. I would have to show the tension in the voice, the sweat on the brow, and dedicate a few sentences explaining just how important this part is.
It would be fast and efficient to just say that it's "critical" and move on, but that will not create the proper feeling or understanding for the audience. And succinctness is not about containing information: it's about expressing information.
Say exactly what you need to make your audience feel what you want. If you need to reinforce an idea to reach that level, then you are still being succinct. You are doing it in the best way possible.
About Me
- Kevin Bahler
- I am a writer. A writer is one who writes. By the same logic, I am also a thinker, an observer, and a puzzle solver. I am a graduate from the State University of New York at Cortland with a degree in Professional Writing. The idea of the program is that one studies all three aspects of writing as a whole: Creative Writing, Technical Writing, and Rhetoric. The knowledge I have gained in those subjects is put to use in every aspect of my life. The worst thing a person can be is boring. I am most interested in people who can pique my interests. An example is people who can correctly use the word 'pique'.
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