When Tim Ferriss interviewed Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist…

He asked him a good, clear question:

“What are the most common mistakes or weaknesses of first-time novelists?”

I think Coelho’s answer is excellent advice for all writers, including, sometimes, copywriters:

“Keep it simple,” he said. “Trust your reader. He or she has a lot of imagination. Don’t try to describe things. Give a hint and they will fulfill this hint with their own imagination.”

He’s describing Literary Minimalism, writing which:

• Favors brevity

• Avoids adverbs

• Leans on surface description

• Let’s context dictate meaning

Hills Like White Elephants, Hemingway’s famous short story, comes to mind. It’s full of sentences like this one:

— -
“The American and the girl with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building.”
— -

Hemingway doesn’t give us the details, only the elements: the American; the girl; the table; the shade; the building.

And he trusts The Reader to fill in the blanks, to color in the details — consciously or otherwise — for herself. 

Don’t over explain. 

It starves the imagination.

Instead, it’s often more engaging to provide the elements of a scene, and let The Reader fill in the rest.

LEARN TO PERSUADE

✅ Join thousands of email subscribers
✅ Less than 0.4% of readers unsubscribe
✅ Never miss a Micro-Article or -Interview
✅ Get instant email access to VGC's founder
✅ Be first in line to get new, free Micro-Courses

Hey there, thanks for reading. :)

If you want more “micro” content, feel free to explore 100s of articles, interviews, courses, and series — all free. 

Enjoy!

Eddie Shleyner
VeryGoodCopy, founder

P.S. If you like VGC, you’ll love VGC Plus. Instantly unlock every post right here.