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com/document/340974178/easy-writing
This article originally appeared as two posts on my
blog. I have decided to collect them together in a
single document and have added some additional
thoughts on format and fictional writing. It is my
hope that some of these reflections will be of use
to other writers.
If you have enjoyed this article or it has been
helpful to you please feel free to show your
appreciation. Thank you.
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Easily Digestible Writing
Many readers will be familiar with Osprey. They
publish a number of series of books on military
history such as the “Men at Arms” and “Elite”
ranges. I was recommending one of these books to
a friend and made an observation that these books
were of a convenient length to get throughin a
lunch break.
When I write a blog post I usually write it first in a
word processor program. I then upload the basic
text onto the website and add links and illustrations
as required. Recently I have noticed that many of the
posts I had made were two pages or less of plain
text. This seemed to produce a blog of a relatively
convenient size thatcan deal with a topic but not be
overly long.
I had been reading some GURPS sourcebooks
recently too. These can often be a useful source of
interesting information since some are very well
researched. These tend to be more text intensive
than the Osprey books. Third edition sourcebooks
can be 128+ pages long, which can be a little long
(over 100,000 words). Interestingly many of the
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more recent fourth edition GURPS publications
are under 60 pages, with some as short as 17 pages.
Some may be shorter.
I began to ponder these observations. The
Osprey books are very informative and detailed but
generally have a page count of between 32 and 64
pages. This includes numerous illustrations, eight
full colour plates and quite wide margins down one
side of the page. How big is an Osprey book in
plain text? I found a blog where an author talks
about writing his first book for Osprey and the
figure of 15,000 words is mentioned. 15,000 words
is approximately 30-40 A4 pages of single-spaced
text. That sounds very credible for a 48-64 page
illustrated book of Osprey format.
https://ospreypublishing.com/blog/book_diaries_text/
Less Can Be More
Every now and then I come across a webpage
where the writer attempts to include absolutely
everything on a certain topic. They may also decide
to put down everything they know related to the
topic. And everything else they may be interested in
at the moment they were writing the page. Just to
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make things even more interesting the page will often
lack a logical structure. It is a pity since some such
pages often include a lot of interesting information,
but this is easy to overlook or miss. If the author is
trying to make aparticular point this can sometimes
be lost in the general tidal wave. If you want to refer
the reader to additional information use hyperlinks
or, if writing in dead-tree format, references!
Now, I have written a few overly long and
somewhat rambling webpages myself over the years.
A few of the more recent ones, however, I have
been pleased with the conciseness of. Out of
curiosity I pasted a few examples of these into the
word processor for a crude word count. Several of
these are under 2,000 words, with the longer ones
a couple of hundred under 4,000. Hubspot
suggests up to 2,000-2,500 words for a blog post.
Medium suggests three to seven minutes reading
time.
This seems like a very useful set of guidelines.
Two pages or less of plain solid text for a blog
post. (Font size 12, Georgia, single spaced –this gives around 1,300
words). 4,000 words or less for a webpage, with less
than half of that being attractive. For longer works
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aim for under 15,000 words. If that is not possible
aim for sections or chapters of less than this size.
The latter strategy may also help towards the better
structuring and presentation of the information.
The latest trick I have learnt is not to involve a
word processor unless I need to. I can write blogs
and webpages directly into HTML using a plain text
editor, which saves lots of unnecessary hassleand
formatting problems. I keep notes as plain text or
HTML, which also saves file space. An editor such
as Notepad++ has spell check, autosave, word
count and most other featuresyou want.
When writing fiction, it is also a good idea to
keep your reader’s limits of time and attention in
mind. One definition of “short story” is that it is a
work that can be read in a single (comfortable!)
sitting. A less ambiguous definition classes short
stories as works of 7,500 words or less. The use of
electronic reading devices has created a market for
shorter works of fiction and non-fiction called
“eshorts”. Amazon defines eshorts as from 5,000 to
30,000 words in length so they can be short stories,
novellettes or medium novellas. An “industry
standard” page is considered to be 250 words,
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which suggests a page of around A5 size.
Thus, you will also see eshorts described as being
from 12 to 150 pages.
Make A Plan!
I have already mentioned that many articles lack
structure. Make a plan. Decide what you want to say
and what order you want to present yourpoints in.
Format and Layout
A friend of mine used to create webpages of dull
green text on a black background. All the textwas in
a single column that was only two inches width.
There are easy ways to fix this but he nevergot
around to it. I doubt many people ever read a full
page!
Many written documents are now read on
computer screens. Portrait layout and multiple
columns of text are not the best way to present
information in this format.
If I produce a document in PDF format, I have
taken to creating it with a landscape layout to make
it easier to read on-screen. I have also takento using
Garamond font since this can produce savings of
up to 24% if the document is printed out. “X of
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Y” page numbering helps the reader keep track of
loose printed sheets. A header with an URL lets
them find the original source again. Ifyou update,
change the version number.
One of my blog readers asked me to make the
text bigger. None of us are getting any younger so
I have begun to use an 18pt font. Interestingly,
Garamond or Georgia in 18pt gives me a page
word count of 250 words on an A4 landscape
page.
Writing and Time
One consequence of becoming interested in the
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length of documents is that I have given some
attention to the related field of reading speed and
time.
Over the years I have worked with a number of
academics who proceed a workshop with a lengthy
introduction. Sometimes this can be very long
indeed! It is often claimed that the average human
has an attention span of about 40 minutes. My
own experience suggests that despite this an
introduction should be kept to under 15 to 20
minutes duration. Research backs up my
observations, concluding an 18-minute
presentation is optimum. Adding more content
serves no purpose if it does not register.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute
According to a Wikipedia article reading speed
varies with language and writing system.
Interestingly many people read much quicker than
they are able to listen to spoken text. For English,
reading speed is somewhere between 200and 300
words per minute, bearing in mind that many
people who will be reading an article in English
may not have English as their first language. This
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means that a concise webpage of under 2,000 words
will take about six to ten minutes of a reader’s time.
If you have written a page of 8,000 words you should
ask yourself will it interest a reader enough for them
to spend 30 to 40 minutes of their time reading it?
Other Media
A fellow writer suggested the use of videos to me.
Similar criteria apply, although just as a videois more
complex than a written page so too are the factors
affecting its acceptability. Personally, I find myself
reluctant to watch videos of more than ten minutes
length unless it promises to cover something I am
particularly interested in. Ifa friend sends me a music
clip I find I will give it about 30 to 45 secs before I
decide to continue ornot. If the intro seems to be
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one that is particularly drawn out I may jump
forward to see if the track improves. With non-
musical videos I probably will give it a bit longer to
develop, but a lot will depend on the presentation. If
a webpage is badly presented and/or poorly
structured, you can sometimes fish through it for
the better parts.With videos this is more difficult,
so poor structure or presentation will often
discourage a viewer.
Youtube claim the optimal length for their
videos is three minutes or under. With longer
videos there is a higher chance the viewer will lose
interest and click something else. If conducting a
video presentation or podcast aimfor under 20
minutes.
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The Books

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Thank You

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