Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them.

Elmore Leonard (1925–2013) American novelist and screenwriter

In “Ten Rules for Writing Fiction,” The Guardian (20 Feb 2010)
    (Source)

A frequent piece of advice from Leonard, e.g.:

• "I leave out the parts that people skip." When asked about the popularity of his detective novels. Quoted in William Zinsser, A Family of Readers (1986)
• "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip." In "Making It Up as I Go Along," AARP Magazine (Jul/Aug 2009).