Should answers be long or short? How to find just the right length

The answer is to match the question

"Longer answers are more thoughtful." "Shorter answers have better rhythm." Both are right, and both are wrong. The right answer is to "match the question."

Answering "What's your favorite color?" in 500 characters is way too heavy, and answering "What was the hardest experience of your life?" in one line falls short. The trick is to adjust the length of your answer to the weight of the question.

The rule of thumb is simple. Keep light questions light, and give heavy questions a proper answer. If you decide this up front, you should find yourself worrying less about how long your answers should be.

1-3 lines is fine for light questions

"Dog person or cat person?" "What's for dinner tonight?" "What did you buy recently?" For light questions like these, answering quickly in 1-3 lines is probably about right.

"Cat person! My family has 2 at home and they send me photos every day." That's plenty. It's short, but it still shows your personality, right?

If you go on and on in answer to a light question, it tires out the reader, and people may end up thinking, "This person sure talks a lot." Answer light questions with good rhythm, one after another.

About 5-10 lines for heavy questions

"What's your dream for the future?" "What do you do when you're feeling down?" "How do you deal with a fight with a friend?" For questions like these, you'll want to answer a bit more carefully.

About 5-10 lines is a good guide for an easy-to-read length. Answer concretely, mixing in your own experience. "When I'm feeling down, I just sleep first. Sleeping doesn't fix anything, but when I wake up I can think a little more calmly. Then I blast my favorite music. When I let myself go with the sound without thinking about what the lyrics mean, my mood resets."

At about this length, it's less of a burden for the reader, and they should feel, "They really thought about it before answering."

Readability matters more than length

Whether an answer is good or bad isn't decided by its length. What matters is whether it's easy to read. A short answer is good if it gets the point across, and a long answer that rambles is less likely to be read to the end.

If you try to write a lot and your story jumps all over the place or you repeat the same thing, it actually gets harder to understand. On the other hand, if you write only what's needed, cleanly, even a short answer gets across fully.

Think about "whether the reader can understand it easily" rather than "how many lines to write." Length is a result, not a goal. If you think about readability first, the right length is likely to follow.

Give long answers room to breathe with line breaks

For questions you want to answer in depth, it's natural for the answer to get long. But when the text is packed tightly, readers may get overwhelmed and give up before they start reading.

In that case, add line breaks here and there to give your writing "breathing room." Leaving a blank line at each break in the story gives the reader's eyes a rest. On a small phone screen, this effect tends to show even more.

Even with the same content, making it look airy is likely to raise the chance that people read it to the end. If you're going to write a lot, pay attention not only to the content but also to a readable layout. That's the trick to turning long writing into "writing that gets read."

Decide by picturing the other person

If you're unsure how long your answer should be, try picturing "the person who will read this." Sending a long reply to someone who asked casually might make it feel heavy to them. On the other hand, replying to a serious request for advice with one line comes across as curt.

What kind of energy did they send it with? If you pick the length to match that, it's likely to land just right. Reading the temperature of the question is one hint for choosing the length.

It's even better if you can also keep in mind a little the other followers who will see the answer. When you write while picturing both the sender and the readers, both the length and the content get closer to the mark. Caring about the other person becomes the measuring stick for deciding length.

When in doubt, add "one more line"

If you write an answer and think "Is this too short?", try adding just "one more line."

"I like curry" becomes "I like curry. I especially like it hot and spicy, and at CoCo Ichibanya (a Japanese curry chain) I order level 5 spice." Adding one line brings out your personality in the answer.

On the other hand, if you think "Is this too long?", try cutting the last 2-3 lines. Surprisingly often, it still makes sense after you cut them.

There's no such thing as the perfect length, so take it easy. What matters isn't the length but answering in your own words.