Word Economy

My love of writing started in secondary school where I discovered that I was pretty good at writing research papers and actually enjoyed the process. So many of my friends wailed and complained about the tediousness of compiling little notecards with snippets of information on them, then organizing the whole stack into a piece of writing that was orderly, compelling, accurate, and interesting. I loved it. I’m a puzzle person, and this process was, to me, like solving a big word puzzle with the reward of a good grade at the end. Pure heaven.

I had an English teacher - I have long forgotten her name - who taught me some of the most valuable lessons ever in how to craft a good essay or story. She’d assign a topic and give us a few days to turn it into a rough draft. We’d hand in what in the beginning was usually a hot mess, she’d go over our written efforts with red pencil in hand, and return them. Her next directive was to “do it again,” directing us to pay particular attention to her bright red notes. Then the whole routine would be repeated, over and over, until she finally got a stack of papers that stood up to her rigorous standards.

She was a stickler for the power of brevity. I can still see her, rail-thin, in her usual black dress with the lacy white collar, standing at the front of the classroom, wooden ruler in hand. She’d slam the ruler down on her desk -CRACK! - and in a high-pitched voice exclaim, “Word economy, girls! Word economy!” We’d all sigh, pick up our essays, and go back at it. Again.

Word economy. That one phrase has been with me and guided my writing for over fifty years. She taught us that there shouldn’t be one superfluous word in any single sentence; that every word needed to have meaning, weight, and be absolutely necessary. Wise advice, indeed. Have you ever read a book that was so bogged down with flowery descriptions or endless monologues that you lost the meaning of what the author was trying to say in the first place? I bet you have; I have, too. Those books generally go unfinished.

It’s a great feeling to spark a good idea, find its core concept, imagine your protagonist or hero, develop a twist (or two), and start writing it all down. I’m not a fiction writer, but I’ve read enough to know that from that very first sentence, a story can either fly or flop. Brainstorm the heck out of first sentences, keeping word economy in mind as well as your “hook.” If you’re on track, and lucky, your writing should just flow out of your imagination from there. BUT, don’t forget that this is a first draft and will be followed by many more before you have a story or essay that really sings. Don’t be afraid of your own red pencil and keep Miss Whatever-her-name-was’ word economy top of mind.

Now, go write!