We’re all prone to cluttered writing because our thought processes themselves are messy. We babble away in text as we figure out what we want to say. Writing a first draft is not a clean process for any but the most practiced. Those who write every day for a living train themselves to use outlines and often edit their work as they go.
I have a reputation for submitting clean first drafts. That’s what happens when you edit for a living; you learn to tidy up as you go. You ask yourself questions like Does this adverb really bring me joy?
But don’t hate me — learn from me!
10 tips for tidying up your cluttered writing
In 2014, organizing and decluttering guru Marie Kondo took the world by storm with her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Since then, we’ve learned that one great way to declutter is to get rid of anything that doesn’t “spark joy.” The problem with decluttering writing is much like the problem with decluttering a home — you’re usually kind of attached to your stuff, whether it’s necessary or not.
You can keep people out of your messy home if you want. Messy writing, on the other hand, won’t work if you plan to share it with the world. So let’s dive into that creative chaos and organize it into something worth reading
1. Lose “very,” “really,” and “actually”
Most of the time, you don’t need these adverbs. They’re what we call “intensifiers.” They give the adjectives they modify a little boost. But what if you chose a stronger adjective from the start? Voila! Your writing becomes more engaging.
With “very” as an intensifier:
He’s very funny.
With a stronger adjective:
He’s hilarious.
Consider eliminating intensifiers except when they make your dialogue sound more realistic or your writing more conversational. Lose them in formal writing (business emails, research papers, et al.)
2. Beware “there is/there are”
Sometimes you can’t avoid “there is” or “there are” at the beginning of a sentence. But be wary if you find yourself defaulting to this lackluster phrase more often than not. Start with a verb or subject, instead.
I started writing the paragraph above as “There are times when you can’t avoid…” before I realized that I was creating a grievous contradiction. You can see how I rewrote to clean up my mess.
3. Ditch weasel words
Weasel words are qualifiers. They make you sound unsure of yourself or suggest that you’re hedging your bets. (Think of the term “to weasel out of” something.)
Weasel words include:
- Like
- Maybe, perhaps
- Kind of, sort of
- Might, can
Here’s an example.
I feel like my writing is kind of cluttered. I might need the help of an editor.
Let’s make it better by losing the weasel words.
My writing is cluttered. I need the help of an editor.
Sometimes you need a qualifier to convey just the right sentiment if you’re unsure of yourself or your decision. (Ditto if your character feels the same way and you’re writing dialogue or using their voice.) But avoid weasel words whenever you want to sound confident.
PRO TIP: Sometimes, weasel words are essential in business writing. A mattress company, for instance, would say that their product “may prevent lower back pain” rather than risk the legal ramifications of stating that it absolutely does.
4. Use strong verbs
Verbs are action, so make sure you pick good ones. Don’t use verbs you have to modify with adverbs to pump up the intensity.
Ran swifty
Darted
Cried piteously
Wailed
Walked confidently
Strutted
5. Don’t use a five-dollar word when a ten-cent word will do
You have an amazing vocabulary. Many writers do. Your desire to share your love of cool words with the world is only natural. But in most cases, don’t.
Write like you talk. If you wouldn’t use that five-dollar word in an everyday conversation, consider using a simpler word in your writing.
Why? Because big words can make you sound less intelligent, as a Princeton study revealed. (Sidebar: I love that the study is named “Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly.”)
I’m not saying you shouldn’t use a big word when it’s the perfect choice for your narrative. Sometimes, nothing but that special word will do. But in almost all cases, default to simple over complex.
6. Check for vague pronoun references
In a face-to-face conversation, your chat partner can ask for clarification if you’re too vague. But in writing, you have to be clear from the start.
Watch for vague pronoun references and look for opportunities to add clarity. Some frequent vague pronoun offenders include:
- This, that
- It, It’s
- Which
- He/she, her/him, they/them
Here’s an example of a vague pronoun reference.
Marla couldn’t reach Joan because she lost her phone.
Bummer about the lost phone, but … who lost it? Did Marla lose her phone or did Joan?
This can be a daunting challenge even for the most seasoned professionals.
There’s nothing wrong with this sentence as it is, but it’s important to make sure the preceding sentence gives context so the reader understands what this refers to.
PRO TIP: What parts of speech are this and that? They can be an adjective, adverb, definite article, or pronoun. In vague sentences where it isn’t clear what this or that refers to, the word is most often used as a pronoun.
7. Watch for wordy prepositional phrases
I edited the Get-Fit Guy Podcast when the magnificent (and humble) Brock Armstrong was its host. Brock’s a great writer, but it was my job to make him excellent. So know that I’m not Brock shaming when I use an example from one of his draft podcast scripts.
Brock wrote:
Abi has three surprisingly simple exercises for us to perform in order to develop our overall stability.
How many prepositional phrases can you spot in that sentence?
There are four:
- for us
- to perform
- in order
- to develop
That’s a lot of prepositions, and they make the sentence wordy. Let’s revise.
Abi provided three surprisingly simple exercises we can perform to develop our overall stability.
There! The meaning hasn’t changed, but the clutter’s gone. We’ve used just one prepositional phrase (“to develop”) instead of four.
Sidebar: When I edit, I save examples of common writing problems I encounter on a spreadsheet called Writing Glitches. I normally won’t mention the name of the writer behind a glitch, but I know that Brock’s a good sport in addition to being a great fitness guide.
8. Tame the fluff
I define “fluff” as anything that no one (including you) would miss if you removed it from your text. Often when I edit, I encounter fluff in the form of lead-ins or segues. Some examples that I’ve edited out of manuscripts over the years:
- That’s precisely what we’ll talk about in this article today.
- So, let’s get started.
- Below, I’ve listed some of the …
You could make the argument that the occasional lead-in can give a blog post conversational flair — I do it from time to time. But more often than not, these segues are filler. Jump to the good stuff without the preamble.
9. Shorten your sentences
If you want your readers to love you, don’t punish them with long, complicated sentences. Unnecessarily complex sentences are a hallmark of cluttered writing.
The more punctuation you need to add to your sentence, the more convoluted it probably is. (And if you don’t use punctuation and create run-on messes, you have an even bigger problem. I love Grammarly for lending a helping hand with punctuation.)
Overly Complicated Sentence:
Before Davis could leave for work, he had to pack his lunch and fill his thermos with coffee, which made him almost 15 minutes late for his morning meeting and caused his supervisor to glare at him over the top of her wire-rimmed glasses while he fumbled through his presentation.
Whew! That’s a lot, both for poor Davis and for us readers. Let’s fix the writing by breaking up the sentence. (Alas, poor Davis! We can’t fix his career sitch.)
Multiple Sentences for Reading Ease:
Before Davis could leave for work, he had to pack his lunch and fill his thermos. Those extra steps made him almost 15 minutes late for his morning meeting. As he fumbled through his presentation, his supervisor glared at him over the top of her wire-rimmed glasses.
Davis is still in trouble, but at least his tale of workplace woe is readable.
10. Stop clearing your throat
Throat-clearing is the practice of starting your sentences with an empty preamble. You’ll see it a lot in business writing and emails. Academics and legal professionals are also frequent offenders. So are people who think throat-clearing phrases somehow make them sound smarter. (Newsflash: They don’t.)
Some examples:
- It should be noted that …
- A key aspect of this is …
- It is acknowledged that …
- Due to the fact that …
- It appears to be the case that …
- It is important to remember that …
Ugh. Just cut to the chase. There’s a reason why legal professors coach law students to rewrite sentences that start with throat-clearing phrases.
Throat-clearing in fiction
We talked about throat-clearing phrases above. But in fiction writing, throat-clearing is a different phenomenon. It can encompass whole paragraphs of meaningless babble that don’t add anything important to the narrative.
Cleaning cluttered writing is fun
No, really! Once you’re aware of what clutter looks like in your writing, it’s fun to tidy up and watch your text go from messy and disorganized to polished and clear.
If you haven’t recognized the power of cleaning up your wordy writing, I urge you to try an experiment. When you’re ready to edit your writing, turn on “track changes” in your word processing program. It’s a little extra work to track what you’ve changed and then apply all the changes, but it’s cool to see where you’ve been as opposed to where you ended up.
Happy decluttering!
