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You are here: Home / Hacks / Epic ≠ Long

Epic ≠ Long

December 20, 2011 By Joel Runyon 19 Comments

This is a note that I jotted down from a conversation I had with Nate Damm when he was walking across America:

Epic

Epic ≠ Long. Too many people mistake writing something epic with writing something long. You don’t have to write 3,000 words to make something worth reading. You just have to make it worth reading.

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Filed Under: Hacks Tagged With: epic, epic ≠ long, long, Writing

About Joel Runyon

I started IMPOSSIBLE to push myself to try to live a life worth writing about by pushing my limits, living an adventure & telling a great story by doing the impossible. You can get free updates in your inbox via your new favorite newsletter, free fitness training tutorials, and see all my businesses at Impossible X and our philanthropic efforts at Impossible.org

Comments

  1. Jon @ Say No to the Office says

    December 20, 2011 at 9:44 am

    Too right – my PhD thesis was 30,000 words long and its probably only ever been read by 3 people – including me! On another note – like your style Joel. Beautifully designed website around a really interesting concept. Glad to have found you and will be following from now on.

    Reply
    • Heather Boylan says

      December 21, 2011 at 1:42 am

      Hey, Jon,

      Ugh! I don’t know how many words my dissertation (disser) was, but I know it took a full ream of paper to print! At CU some of us tucked $20 bills into the copies that were put in the uni library – a little token of appreciation to that ONE person who might read it one day. I bet we could go there and make big bucks just by flipping through dissertations!

      Short and sweet is now how I like it. I can only keep track of one idea at a time anyways – why should I think my reader is any different?

      -Heather

      Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      December 28, 2011 at 8:28 pm

      Thanks Jon. Glad to have you on board!

      Reply
  2. Sean Davis says

    December 20, 2011 at 11:04 am

    “You don’t have to write 3,000 words to make something worth reading. You just have to make it worth reading.”

    Ain’t that the truth!

    Reply
  3. Gene says

    December 20, 2011 at 2:42 pm

    You are so damn right. After finding your blog, and reading your manifesto, I’ve been reconsidering things myself. Too many details to say briefly but all I really want to say is thank you for staying true to yourself. You help people like me find what was always there and I end up helping who I know.

    Back to this post, a blog I posted about a bridge party is fairly short and was a joy to write and share filled with great people doing greater things. I’d love you to check it out at geneduve.com/bridgeparty. You are one of the reasons it happened.

    Thanks again, joel. Keep doing your thing.

    Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      December 28, 2011 at 8:28 pm

      I’ll check it out. Let me know if there’s anything i can do for you Gene.

      Reply
  4. Tobias Mullinax says

    December 20, 2011 at 3:32 pm

    I love this post. It’s great that you actually pulled off a short, epic post about short, epic things.

    Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      December 28, 2011 at 8:27 pm

      I try to be consistent :0

      Reply
  5. Celine says

    December 20, 2011 at 4:45 pm

    Word.

    Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      December 28, 2011 at 8:27 pm

      😀

      Reply
  6. The Chad says

    December 20, 2011 at 7:27 pm

    Although one of the definitions is “of unusually great size or extent”, it is only one definition, another one being “impressively great”. That’s the one that applies most to those who are seeking to do the impossible in their work and in their lives, because that’s the one that allows us create something worth creating– something great, something that will change lives.

    Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      December 28, 2011 at 8:30 pm

      I think the issued comes when people disassociate greatness & quality and instead focus on size. Something can be epicly long, but if you write an epic piece that will last the test of time, sheer length matters much less than the quality of the writing.

      Reply
  7. kp says

    December 20, 2011 at 8:41 pm

    you and seth think alike…

    http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/12/no-one-ever-bought-anything-in-an-elevator.html

    Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      December 28, 2011 at 8:30 pm

      He totally copies me 🙂

      Reply
  8. Justin Mazza says

    December 20, 2011 at 10:38 pm

    Hi Joel,
    I have to agree. I have written a couple of 3000 words posts and I wonder how many people actually read all of it or just skimmed through it.

    Reply
  9. Jeanie says

    December 21, 2011 at 9:34 pm

    So….why do they have the Ironman then? 🙂

    Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      December 28, 2011 at 8:32 pm

      Because there are some weird people out there that like to suffer 🙂

      Reply
  10. Sheyi says

    March 25, 2012 at 5:24 am

    I absolutely agree with this! Epic does not necessary mean long. An interview or a blog post might be epic but not long. Epic to me means something of great value to the reader.

    Sheyi

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 9 Impossible Things I’ll Do In 2012 | Blog Of Impossible Things says:
    January 3, 2012 at 7:24 am

    […] things have come for a few seconds, that only means we got a lot more people watching now in 2012. Better make it epic! Bring it […]

    Reply

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