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- 🍴You have to trust your reader
373 words ⬇️
My mind starts to wander when I read something weighed down by details.
Get to the point, I think to myself.
That’s exactly what author Paulo Coelho, famously known for his book The Alchemist, believes.
Except, he said it more eloquently.
Trust your reader.
“He or she has a lot of imagination. Don’t try to describe things. Give a hint, and they will fulfill this hint with their own imagination.”
He encourages us to say just enough to give our readers the information they need to assemble a picture in their minds using their experiences.
This approach is called minimalism.
It’s a writing style that focuses on the bones of the content. It emphasizes clarity and brevity.
Here’s how to use this technique in your writing:
Simplify your message at the source. Imagine you’re explaining it to a toddler. You wouldn’t overcomplicate things. You’d focus on the essentials, leaving out the fluff.
Streamline your structure. Short sentences and white space drive your story forward and keep your readers interest. Remember Kaplan’s Law? Every word serves a purpose.
Guide your readers. Give your readers the paint and palette and hand them the brush. That’s my creative way of saying you should give your readers concrete details and actions that imply meaning but allow them to use their imaginations to fill in the blanks and paint a picture in their minds.
Minimalist Example
Verbose: "John sat on the rocking chair outside, rocking steadily, staring off at the lake before him. His hot coffee turned tepid as minutes passed."
Minimalist: "The lake's shoreline mimicked the motion of the rocking chair. John’s coffee, like the morning air, grew cold.”
Here’s why this works:
Reduces word count (24 words to 18 words).
Invites reader interpretation. In the second example, you can visualize the water lapping against the shoreline, and your mind creates a scene of how fast or slow John is rocking the chair.
Preserves the key elements and emotions of the original version. You know, without me telling you that he’s been sitting there for a while because of the temperature of his coffee.
Minimalist writing doesn’t mean stark and boring. It means you’re saying more with less.
How can you use this technique with your writing?