Salt Lake Telegram | 1928-01-05 | Page 14 | Make it Short

1 L Make It Sh Short rl r rBy By By DR FRANK CRANE I think it is D D. L. L Moody who t tells of a man who when he died said said- r I I may hav have e done many a I. I wrong wrong thing but I have never done a long one The Tue least you can do dos dois is to make It short If what you do is Js wrong It doesn't last very long If It what you you do is right it is is all the better for being brief Brevity Is the soul of ot wit and it is also the soul of ot common sense Dont Don't use two adjectives to describe a 8 thing One Is enough Dont Don't say a thing athing and then exercise your ingenuity by saying it over again Writing conduces to brevity because as as someone has said writing is like shooting at a mark with a ak arule rule rifle while e speaking is like trying to o hit the tho same Vf mark k with a stream of water t from a on n nozzle I I The world is on on the run Most p people ople ar are and alwa always s 's win will be in a hurry The f fate to of ot the third verse is something for those I who seek the public ear to ponder on A lengthy article with long solid-appearing solid paragraphs paragraphs paragraphs para para- graphs has as much chance of being widely read I as have the tile words of the third verse of th the closing I hymn when the minister has run past a dozen fine tine terminal sentences I Brevity Is the soul sour of ot attraction as well as of wit I If a short article turns out to be a dud it at least Isn't a winded long-winded dud I IA A short pointed article if it contains a thought is more likely to set you thinking than a 8 long one It gives you time in the present A long article requires your our leisure to to read and and j then then something else requires attention by the tiMe thrle you finish it Jt There Is a charm about rambling writers like Charles Lamb when you have an an evening to spend under a reading lamp on on a- a winters winter's night But In Inthe inthe inthe the every day turmoil of ot the thew w day a y world theone the theone theone one Who ho hohas has something to sa say and and says it In the fewest words has has' the best eh chance nce to be heard An American magazine editor pays pays lays an English Englishwoman Englishwoman woman writer a dollar for each cli word rord of t. t her short stories H He Me says say she h can pack more Into ten cn words than most writers can put into A literary model many many writers might study with profit is the telegram The short attracts in tho the tho first place because Jt is short It gives the Idea a chance to be heard But If it the tho article article- has nothing to to- say mere briefness Is to no purpose Tomorrow Tomorrows Romance I Copyright 1927 McClure Newspaper Syndicate