Why Simple is Hard and the Obvious Isn't

Now that everyone is a publisher, I am struck by the fact that when writing for the Web, simple is hard and the obvious isn't.  This is illustrated well on CopyBlogger by Brian Clark  He writes about how storytelling is powerful and illustrates it with a story.  Check the comments and you'll see that some people just didn't get his point.  What is obvious to us isn't necessarily obvious, or even true for others.  Now that everyone can be a publisher, we're seeing this played out across the net.

This isn't a new problem for writers. When Mark Twain was sent this wire by his publisher 'NEED 2-PAGE SHORT STORY TWO DAYS." Twain replied 'NO CAN DO 2 PAGES TWO DAYS. CAN DO 30 PAGES 2 DAYS. NEED 30 DAYS TO DO 2 PAGES.'   

This reminds me that writing for the Web requires that we think about how to simplify our prose and state what's true (for us) and hope it's obvious.

Technorati tags: writing+for+the+web marketing story+telling headlines

Comments

[Stephanie Diamond]

Michael, regarding small spaces, I think the hardest small space of all is the resource box of an article. It needs to say everything you want customers to know about you in about 3 lines!

[Michael Anders]

I agree that writing for a small space is much harder than writing for a larger one. One reason I think it's so hard is because we hate to destroy what we work so hard to create. Now I would write more, but perhaps I have already said too much :)

[Stephanie Diamond]

Brian,
You're right, it was Blaise Pascal an influencial French mathematician and philosopher who said that. I always learn something when I read your posts, so they must be just long enough.

[Brian Clark]

Didn't someone also say "Sorry for the long letter, if I had more time it would have been shorter?"

I know that's true of my blog posts. :)

[Sansfaim]

Sir Winston Churchill expressed a similar view when he said "Ask me to talk off the cuff and I can speak for two hours. Ask me to talk for 5 minutes and I need six weeks to prepare."