“Least said, soonest mended” is an idiom I think of a lot. It’s useful in many situations. Something is more easily forgotten if it’s not mentioned; feelings are less apt to be hurt if thoughts are kept to oneself; words once spoken can’t be taken back; angry words left unspoken don’t have to be forgiven. In writing, the same thing applies only in a different context. Getting one’s thoughts across with the fewest words is often the best choice.
Writers love their words. After all, they’re our stock in trade. A lovely written phrase is just that–lovely; but, guess what? The same thing can usually be said in a lot fewer words and be more effective.
Editing is a painful but vital process. In my writing, I’ve finished a page with a sense of satisfaction that I’ve said just what I meant to say, and then…I re-read. Horrors! Although I love those adjectives and adverbs, if I remove a few dozen and replace them with accurate and meaningful nouns and verbs, the page goes much more smoothly and the point is made.
I remember a dear older preacher and his love for words. He embellished. His sermon was basically over in fifteen minutes, his point made and finished. However, either he wasn’t aware of this or he loved the sound of his voice or he thought of fifteen other ways to say the same things. For the next fifteen minutes, his congregation fidgeted and thoughts strayed. Too much verbiage. Point lost and forgotten.
This little nursery rhyme pretty well says it all: “A wise old owl lived in an oak; The more he heard, the less he spoke. The less he spoke, the more he heard. Now, wasn’t he a wise old bird?”
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