Tiny Writing

My Tiny Writing class kicked my ass this year. As writers, we all have bad habits that need breaking. My sins are writing in passive rather than active voice, using nominalizations, and being sparse with sensory details. (Oh, God. I'm doing it now, aren't I?) Let me fix that. I write in passive rather than active voice, use nominalizations, and leave out sensory details. However, now I notice it more! 

I realized that song lyrics are a form of tiny writing. Now when I write songs for my band, I notice breath units, assonance, syllable to word ration, alliteration, parallel series, sonority, and so on. I notice that some words are more effective than others.

I learned to distill passages down to what is absolutely essential. Think of it this way. If you only have thirty seconds to grab someone's attention in an emergency situation, what would you say? Which words would emphasize the problem at hand and establish a sense of urgency?

This happens when we write copy for marketing and social media, or blurbs for our manuscripts. We're fighting for room in a short attention economy. 
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How can we reframe our thinking to accomplish brevity? Make it a game. When trying to sum up a character in one line, think of your description as a movie review. For example: If you gave a lumberjack kind eyes and wool sweater, you'd get Harris Jones.

What are some of your tiny writing tricks?
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