More words than you needed.
THE CAUSE
No length specified. It produces whatever it defaults to, which tends toward long.
THE FIX
State a length. "Around 200 words" or "three short paragraphs".
WHAT ALSO HELPS
"No preamble. Start with the answer." "Do not summarise at the end."
Those two remove the opening and closing paragraphs that say nothing.
FOR SHORTENING EXISTING OUTPUT
"Reduce this to [length]. Keep every substantive point. Remove only padding, repetition and hedging."
Be explicit, or it removes content indiscriminately.
WHAT TO CHECK AFTER SHORTENING
That every distinct point survived.
Compare against the original.
WHY IT DEFAULTS TO LONG
Longer answers appear more thorough, and that pattern is in the training data.
THE HABIT
Specify length in every writing request.
