Why I Stopped Trying to Be Clever (and You Should Too)

It was the best piece of writing advice I ever got.

Okay, that’s not true.

The best piece of writing advice I ever got was, all first drafts are shit. Keep going.

The second-best piece of advice I ever got was that clarity trumps clever every time.

Don’t get me wrong. Clever isn’t a bad thing. If you can be clever and clear, then kudos to you.

But if you can’t find a way to be clever and say the thing succinctly and clearly, then ditch the dictionary and stop trying so hard.

Because clarity is the thing that will get your point across.

Clarity will narrow your reader’s focus to where you want it to go. It will grip their attention and get them enthused.

But if your message isn’t clear because you’ve stuffed it with too many flowery phrases and magnificent metaphors, it will confuse your reader’s brain.

And confusion kills enthusiasm quicker than a fart on a first date.

Take that example.

You understood the reference above because farts, while hilarious, are highly likely to halt proceedings on a first date.

But if I’d said, confusion kills enthusiasm quicker than shadows suffocating the dawn’s first light…

It’s forced. It doesn’t work. (And in case you’re wondering, I got that monstrosity from Chat GPT.)

Think about some of the best headlines you’ve ever seen.

Maybe they made you laugh, maybe they sparked your curiosity, maybe they frightened the life out of you.

Whatever it was that got your attention, I’ll bet my Kindle on the fact that they were clear.

They grabbed your attention, they kept it, and maybe they made you want to do something.

I doubt very much that you stood there thinking, gee, I’m not quite sure what this writer is getting at, but they sure sound clever.

So, the next time you’re tearing your hair out and thinking your writing doesn’t sound poetic enough, or you find yourself trying to shoehorn a big word into a sentence that refuses to make space for it, remember, clarity over cleverness.

Every. Time.

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