Cut it in half
You are cutting a draft to half its length. The facts stay. The words go. A reader of the cut version should learn everything a reader of the original learned, in half the time.
Procedure
- Count the words in the original. The target is half, give or take ten percent.
- List every fact in the original: each number, name, date, price, deadline, claim, instruction, decision. This list is your contract.
- Cut in this order, and stop when you hit the target:
- Throat-clearing: greetings, thanks, "I wanted to reach out", "as you know", "I hope this finds you well".
- Restatement: any sentence that says what a previous sentence said, including a summary of the paragraph above it.
- Hedges and intensifiers: very, really, quite, somewhat, "I think", "it seems", "in my opinion" (unless the opinion is the point).
- Filler phrases: any phrase of three or more words that means to, because, now, if, or can. Replace it with the one word.
- Long constructions: passive voice into active, "there are three things that" into the three things, nominalizations into verbs ("made a decision" into "decided").
- Adjectives and adverbs that carry no fact. "Significant improvement" becomes the number if there is one and "improvement" if there is not.
- Merging: two short sentences about the same thing become one.
- Explanations the reader does not need. Only when you know who the reader is, and say so in the removed list.
- Check the cut version against the fact list. Everything present.
- Read it once as the reader. If a sentence now reads as an unexplained leap, put back the one clause that bridges it.
Output
The cut version first. Then a heading "Removed facts" followed by a list of any facts from step 2 that are not in the cut version, each with a reason. The right answer is "None." If you had to drop a fact to hit the target, say so instead of hiding it, and offer a version at sixty percent that keeps it.
Then one line: original word count, cut word count.
Rules
- Never change a fact to make it shorter. "About 40" is not "40". "Tuesday or Wednesday" is not "midweek".
- Numbers, dates, names, prices, instructions: none of them get cut to hit the target. Cut the words around them.
- Keep the writer's voice. Do not swap their words for shorter synonyms they would not use. The cut should read like they wrote it tighter.
- Keep the order of ideas unless a reorder removes a whole sentence of transition.
- Add nothing. No new fact, heading, or summary the original did not have.
- If the original is already tight and half is impossible without dropping facts, say so, deliver the tightest honest version, and give the ratio you reached.
- A list stays a list. A heading stays a heading. Cutting structure to save words makes the text harder to use, not shorter to read.
1---2name: cut-it-in-half3description: Use when a draft runs long and someone asks to cut, shorten, tighten, or trim it, or get it down to half. Halves the length and keeps every fact.4---56# Cut it in half78You are cutting a draft to half its length. The facts stay. The words go. A reader of the cut version should learn everything a reader of the original learned, in half the time.910## Procedure11121. Count the words in the original. The target is half, give or take ten percent.132. List every fact in the original: each number, name, date, price, deadline, claim, instruction, decision. This list is your contract.143. Cut in this order, and stop when you hit the target:15 - Throat-clearing: greetings, thanks, "I wanted to reach out", "as you know", "I hope this finds you well".16 - Restatement: any sentence that says what a previous sentence said, including a summary of the paragraph above it.17 - Hedges and intensifiers: very, really, quite, somewhat, "I think", "it seems", "in my opinion" (unless the opinion is the point).18 - Filler phrases: any phrase of three or more words that means to, because, now, if, or can. Replace it with the one word.19 - Long constructions: passive voice into active, "there are three things that" into the three things, nominalizations into verbs ("made a decision" into "decided").20 - Adjectives and adverbs that carry no fact. "Significant improvement" becomes the number if there is one and "improvement" if there is not.21 - Merging: two short sentences about the same thing become one.22 - Explanations the reader does not need. Only when you know who the reader is, and say so in the removed list.234. Check the cut version against the fact list. Everything present.245. Read it once as the reader. If a sentence now reads as an unexplained leap, put back the one clause that bridges it.2526## Output2728The cut version first. Then a heading "Removed facts" followed by a list of any facts from step 2 that are not in the cut version, each with a reason. The right answer is "None." If you had to drop a fact to hit the target, say so instead of hiding it, and offer a version at sixty percent that keeps it.2930Then one line: original word count, cut word count.3132## Rules3334- Never change a fact to make it shorter. "About 40" is not "40". "Tuesday or Wednesday" is not "midweek".35- Numbers, dates, names, prices, instructions: none of them get cut to hit the target. Cut the words around them.36- Keep the writer's voice. Do not swap their words for shorter synonyms they would not use. The cut should read like they wrote it tighter.37- Keep the order of ideas unless a reorder removes a whole sentence of transition.38- Add nothing. No new fact, heading, or summary the original did not have.39- If the original is already tight and half is impossible without dropping facts, say so, deliver the tightest honest version, and give the ratio you reached.40- A list stays a list. A heading stays a heading. Cutting structure to save words makes the text harder to use, not shorter to read.
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