Your Readers Aren't Stupid

by Nicholas Stillman
(Canada)

Never repeat anything. Also, remove all information the reader already knows. They already know the color of the sky and the direction rain falls. They know where the other person stands relative to a cashier at a counter. When a person "looks", everyone knows that he or she looks "over" a distance, so you don't need to write "looks over". When you remove all the instructions that readers don't need, you can fill in the extra space with quality words and ideas.