By: Rhonda Wickham, Director of Content
To the many tasked with communicating their company’s message, the act of writing — and in turn creating compelling content — must seem like conjuring witchcraft spells where the right combination of words and phrases will produce the desired effect. Some communicators believe stacking up adjectives is as good as adding an extra bay leaf and lizard eyelashes to the prose potion. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
I recently ran across a Wall Street Journal column addressing this same issue, titled “Block That Adjective.” Alexander McCall Smith, author of some 60 books including the “No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” series, bemoaned the adjective crutch that many writers lean too heavily upon.
“For some people, being able to use all these words is rather like being faced with a chocolate box with multiple layers; the temptation to overindulge is just too great. The result is the use of too many adjectives, adverbs and subsidiary clauses. Such writing then becomes contrived.”
He blames Roget “and his wretched thesaurus.”
Likewise, novelist Carlos Ruiz Zafon, tells the story of a writer’s first newspaper gig in The Angel’s Game. In the novel, he describes the main character’s encounter with his first editor … “a forbidding man with a bushy mustache who did not suffer fools and who subscribed to the theory that the liberal use of adverbs and adjectives was the mark of a pervert or someone with a vitamin deficiency.”
Creating content that results in a desired action or engagement by the audience demands that you effectively communicate your thoughts and ideas. Concisely expressing your message to ensure it is received and understood demands limited usage of extraneous adjectives and phrases.
Good content requires good writing. Good writing is actually the judicious use of all words, including adjectives, to gain maximum impact. Good writers know when to use or avoid certain words. Many communicators working to create content think the longer the sentence, the smarter their message sounds. In fact, they would be better off consulting a copy of Strunk & White’s Elements of Style.
A friend of mine recently was terrorized by the thought of going through an English composition class when she returned to college for a new degree. Her first assignment — to write about something that happened the previous week — nearly undid her. She stressed in front of her computer screen for so long her writer’s block was even gathering dust.
Finally, she begged me for help. I asked about her intended subject, a bland topic she obviously had zero passion for, let alone interest in. It showed in the few lines she had strung together with a healthy dose of adjectives as the glue.
I knew the previous week she had undergone a series of doctors’ appointments after an unusual mammogram finding. I suggested that she write about that experience. Thirty minutes later, she had finished her composition and emailed me her first draft. It communicated an idea. It was genuine. And she clearly cared about the subject. Her copy was original, clever and concise. In fact, it was nearly perfect.
Adjectives? Sure, she used a few, but only when describing the coldness of the machinery and the diagnostic technician.
Creating content that communicates effectively is not an easy task. But, it’s important to remember that adding unnecessary adjectives takes you farther from your goal, not closer.
What other hurdles are causing you trouble in effectively communicating to your audience?
