A couple times each month, I roll over in bed onto the sharp tip of one of those clicky pens. It’s those nights that I begin to believe that my life borderlines on crazy. I lock up memories in a deep chamber. A note on my Aunt’s refrigerator from last summer, entitled, “people to call when Joe X dies.” Things I’ve read in e-mails not intended for my eyes. Gifts I’ve bought but never given. Fragments of speech, personality, life.
I keep them safeguarded in electronic stickies on my lap top. A google spreadsheet. Permanent marker etches on my left hand. A notepad near my bed.
Why is it easier to hold onto small pieces rather than the whole narrative? We live complete, cyclical lives, not choppy snipets of conscious and unconscious thought. There’s a story behind every event, ever person, every loss, gain, change, and static event.
But something about the snappy seems to stick more than the lengthy–both in memories and in writing.
So, why are we forced to draw people in by shortening our ideas to a few summarizing words? And is there a trick to doing it well?
It’s the same reason so many of my “notes” to myself are often more mesmerizing than the stories unearthed in them: because they make us want to know more.
Short copy is good copy.
Here’s why:
1.) People get are too busy to waste time reading the irrelevant. If I see a long, huge, draining block of text, I’ll skim it to make sure it’s worth my time. It’s like Thoreau once said:
Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them all.
There’s a zillion publications and blogs out there, so why wold someone waste time with one they aren’t interested in?
2.) It’s about beginnings; so, hook ‘em sooner rather than later. Using catchy headlines or subheads can draw people in is important because they may not stay otherwise.
3.) People like to compartmentalize their live. We want to take a bunch of short bulleted or numbered points that are practical and applicable. We have low patience [because, well, see #1], and as a result, we want order presented to us on a platter.
And, as writers, present we will.
photo courtesy of iliahi
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