Once Upon A Time...

            While studying for my MFA, I took a flash fiction course.  On the first day of this class, the professor passed out three blank index cards to each student.  He assigned a project for us to write an entire fiction story on one index card.  We were only permitted to use one side of the index card to do so.  I thought, “Oh, this should be a breeze!” But, boy was I wrong! 

            I typed the story first before I wrote it on the card.  The story turned out to be an entire page.  When I transferred the story to the card, I ran out of room.  I didn’t want to cut anything out of the story but I had to.  So, I cut a few words and transferred the revised story on the next card.  It was still too much—extremely too much.  I’d cut all that I could cut so I started at the story’s beginning.  I cut the story off right to the action. 

            The next week in class, the professor asked us to read our stories aloud.  He revealed that the object of this assignment was to teach us how to write flash fiction.  With flash fiction, you have to forget about the once-upon-a-times.  You need to get straight through the point and end it. Business writing is no different.  Because of the nature of the writing, you need to get to your point immediately.

            I read an article recently that talks about this.  They compare the idea of beginning, middle and end to elementary school.  In elementary school, the teacher teaches you this.  In the business world, we have to un-teach ourselves the things that they taught.

            According to the article, elementary teachers assume that you have a captive audience.  They go through your writing with a fine tooth comb and correct mistakes.  In business, people aren’t that nitpicky. 

            Elementary teachers teach you to expand on your answers.  In business, too much expanding is discouraged.  It loses your reader.

            Elementary teachers encourage big words.  In business, you want to ensure that your audience understands you.  You need to be as simplistic as possible. 

            Elementary teachers don’t want you to use the words ‘you’ or ‘I’.  In business, it’s okay to do so.  In fact, using those words shows a connection to the reader. 

            Elementary teachers care about grammatical errors.  In business, starting a sentence with ‘and’ or ‘but’ is perfectly okay.