Cut the Crap

There is nothing that I hate more than verbal leg humping.  I’ve seen it in pagan circles. I’ve seen it among ceremonial magicians. I’ve seen it among musicians, graphic designers, amateur botanists, dog breeders… No one group is immune.

It bores me to tears.

Oh, so you know everything about the eighth infernal legion of Zub-zub and understand the intricate meanings associated with scribing the entity’s seal. You’ve evoked it when the planetary alignments were in agreement with your ascendant stars and although you think you saw a puff of ethereal smoke coalescing out of the swirls of incense that night, you’re going around telling everyone that you successfully evoked the entity.

Congratulations.

Now, what have you really done with your life? Are you so caught up in your own cleverness that you’re only capable of spewing vast quantities of big words but have lost the ability to actually communicate?

I prefer saying it like it is and I guess that this little piece is all about communication. In my day job, I work as a sub-editor, chiefly concerned with turning advertorial into readable newspaperese. You should see the dreck that people send me, especially attorneys and accountants. They obscure their meanings in big words that have readers floundering within the first paragraph.

Instead of using simple, concise words, they throw half a dictionary at their readers. The only other people who’d even have a remote chance at understanding what in hell’s name is going on would be another attorney or accountant. Magicians are no different. They share equal success at making my eyes glaze over with rambling essays espousing the true nature of reality.

Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t be poking around some of the odd places that I know of if it wasn’t for the fact that I gain something from being a having some sort of interest in esoteric matters. What I’d like to suggest is that if you’re simply burning up to share some sort of revelation with your fellows that you actually sit down and think how you can communicate this in such a way that:
1: The order of your thoughts is logical.
2: Your words grab your reader from the outset.
3: You don’t waffle.
4: You avoid jargon and clumsy words.
5: Edit and proof read.

Logical order is important. Ask yourself, what exactly are you trying to say? I find that making a list of points is helpful. I read through what I’ve jotted down and decide whether or not I’m making sense.

Once you know what you’re going to say, sit back and think of a way in which you can introduce what you’re trying to say in such a way that is different or will grab your readers’ attention. Maybe you heard a song on the radio the other day that had lyrics that stuck in your head that will illustrate your point. Maybe you’ve just read a novel and can pull a quote to use. Maybe something happened to you the other day, or you had a dream.

In most cases, when people read a newspaper, they’ll read the headline and perhaps the first paragraph. If you don’t hook your reader from the outset, he or she will cast a glance at what you’ve written, then move onto something that looks far more interesting. Your introduction has to be provocative, informative and must make your reader want to read more.

Then, there is nothing that I hate more than someone who waffles and never gets to the point. Take a lesson from modern media, such as magazine or newspaper editorial. An average column that you encounter in print media rarely exceeds 800 words. There’s a reason for this. Busy people don’t have time to sit down and read a 3 000-word epistle that goes on ad nauseam about complicated interplanetary relationships. Sum up what you’re saying by asking yourself: “What, where, how and who?”

Realise that the majority of the folks reading your writing may not share your depth of understanding about a subject and finding ways to communicate your knowledge in a way that won’t leave them floundering is a Very Good Idea.

Every interest group has jargon. These are words that are peculiar to a certain community, usually business related, that excludes those who are not “in”. It is easy to take it for granted that everyone’s on the same wavelength with regards to your understanding of words and terms that you use every day.

Once you’ve finished your masterpiece, ask someone to read it. Make friends with others who share similar interests with you and who will read what you’ve written and deliver constructive criticism. No matter how brilliant you think you are, you’re going to make a few mistakes or errors in logic. A fresh eye will fix that or maybe even add some observations that you missed out on.

There is a minefield of information that we have to sift through, not everyone’s going to be au fait with everything that you know. Simplify the way you say things. No, I’m not saying that you should dumb yourself down to the point of baby-speak, but keep it simple. Get to the point. Say what you mean. Cut the crap.