Minimalist writing subscribes to the philosophy of “less is more”.
In the words of Ernest Hemingway, “All you have to do is write one true sentence.”
Social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram encourage concise expression, however, I’m not convinced that these platforms develop our ability to write minimalist, yet expressive prose. Maximalist writing, on the other hand, is prone to what can be described as excessive elaboration.
In our desire to simplify, are we unwittingly pitting “less is more” against “more is more” if that isn’t truly necessary?
For me, personally, the best form of writing is the kind that gets through to me in that moment in time. Sometimes flowery, lighthearted prose fits the mood of the moment and other times, especially when I’m looking for precise, clear information on a subject, I prefer succinct, precise writing.
What form of writing appeals to you the most?
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I think there’s a place for all of it.
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Agree!
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I agree with you that there are moments when flowery writing get through to you as well as minimalist writing.
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I think that if you have an authentic voice that connects with your audience then the style doesn’t really matter – but I’m sure English professors everywhere would disagree 🙂
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The only writing I really dislike is the corporate/legal jargon writing which is specifically designed so that no one understands any of it. I come across this at work.. the sort of documents you have to read 3 or 4 times to grasp the thread of…and although all the individual words you understand, the whole thing is completely meaningless and deliberately written that way to make someone in head office feel important…
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Lol, that’s true, legal jargon does seem like its designed to be difficult to understand 🙂
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This post was interesting to me because I consider myself a minimalist but this is the first time I’ve heard the term used in relation to writing. I think I am a minimalist writer because I try to be concise in my style, only saying what needs to be said. Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks for sharing your perspective! That is interesting that being a minimalist translates to your writing as well.
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This is very interesting. In school, we are taught that more is better. Long sentences, more pages, and big words are the goal. I bought into that theory for years. Now, as I near the end of a long, corporate career, I’m taking courses in plain language communication where the goal is to simplify complex material so the average person can understand it. Because, even the most educated people need subjects they’re not familar with to be explained in simple terms.
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Hi! I’m so sorry, all your comments were in my spam folder which I haven’t been checking. I apologize for not responding – that was not intentional. I usually approve and then respond to the comments in the comments folder and just happened to look at the other folder. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment – yes, I agree, in school they do encourage us to use better vocabulary and focus on word count. I think that is a good strategy to help with learning and we can pick and choose how we want to write creatively after that. That course sounds very interesting. There is a need for simple, clear communication.
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No problem at all. When I started my blog, I didn’t know about the spam comments folder. When someone told me about it, there were comments from months earlier. Oops.
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