When readers pick up your work, they’re not signing up for a guided tour of your vocabulary museum.

They want a story that moves, sentences that breathe, and words that earn their keep. That’s where word economy comes in. It’s not about stripping your prose until it’s skeletal; it’s about precision, rhythm, and making every word matter.

[Aside: Be careful when you get the urge to stuff complicated words from your thesaurus into you work. Especially when you are not 100% sure of the exact meaning and nuance of that word. You’ll end up saying something you never intended. I could tell you a pithy joke about it, but I’ll spare you.]

Word economy doesn’t mean you trim off the articles (always the first casualty) or slash off the pronouns (leaving the reader flounder about wondering who is saying what. I also doesn’t mean you kill those beautiful, mood-building descriptive passages and turn your narrative strait-jacketed and soulless.

It means getting rid of words which add nothing to the texture of depth of your story.

Wordiness Drains Energy

Bloated sentences might look impressive, but they slow readers down.

Example (Action):

Before:

She walked at a leisurely pace, down the narrow street.

After:

She ambled down the narrow street.

The latter isn’t dull—it’s direct. You don’t need three qualifiers when one word (“strolled”) does the heavy lifting.

Yes, get rid of the adverbs except when vital. There is usually a strong verb to replace the adverb + weak verb combo. It adds subtext too. If I had written ‘strolled’ in place of ‘ambled’, the sentence feel would have been just a little different, right?

Readers Reward Momentum

Word economy keeps your prose taut, pulling readers forward. A scene full of drag—excess description, filler dialogue—becomes a swamp. Trim, and suddenly, the narrative flows like a river. This is particularly vital in action or emotional beats, where tension evaporates if you’re busy describing the wallpaper.

Example (emotion):

Before:

She was feeling extremely angry and upset, her temper rising as she clenched her fists tightly and her breath came fast.

After:

Her fists clenched, breath quickened, anger towered.

Yes, stop telling. Her bodily reactions SHOW us she was angry and upset. Why tell and then show also. Just show is fine. The reader can put two and two together. Stop spoon-feeding them.

Setting Deserves Brevity

Setting is where word economy flexes hardest. You want to dawdle over the backdrop as little as possible. It is an important part of the story, but it cannot be allowed to become another character in the story—unless you want it to be.

Example (Setting):

Before:

The tall mountains, covered in snow that sparkled under the early morning sun, stood in the distance like majestic guardians watching over the valley below.

After:

Snowcapped mountains glimmered in the morning sun, standing guard over the valley.

Yes, remove redundancy. When you say ‘snowcapped mountains, their ‘tallness’ is obvious. Can’t have snowy tops without majestic height, right?

Word Economy Sharpens Imagery:

Cutting words doesn’t flatten imagery—it intensifies it. Think of Hemingway’s iceberg theory: the unsaid amplifies the said. Instead of explaining emotions, let the details show them.

Example (Action):

Before:

She began to walk slowly across the room, her heels clicking with every single step she took on the polished floor.

After:

She crossed the room, heels clicking on the polished floor.

Yes, there is no need to ramble on. Especially when writing action scenes, the more words you use, the slower the action. You want to give the reader short, clipped sentences that they must sit up and read. The quicker they read, the faster the action will seem to them.

Editing Is Where the Magic Happens

No first draft is economical—it’s where you sprawl. But editing is your scalpel phase. Ask:

  • Does this sentence move the story forward?
  • Is this adjective pulling its weight?
  • Can one stronger verb replace this whole phrase?
    Word economy isn’t about writing less—it’s about writing with intention.

Example (Character Thought):

Before:

He thought to himself that maybe it was possible that he could have been wrong about her intentions all along.

After:

Maybe he’d been wrong about her all along.

Practicing word economy is like tuning a violin. Every word should add music, not noise. When your prose is lean, readers don’t notice the writing—they live the story. And isn’t that the point?

Want hands-on help making your writing sharper? Join us The Write Place community for which we hold a free Pen to Print Hour each Thursday. This week will have live exercises on tightening prose.

Mother of three adult humans. An idealistic, outspoken woman of scrupulous integrity, in love with words. A storyteller who enjoys crocheting tales. And a passionate bibliophile, of course.