If you’re including animate body parts in your prose, you might be writing a horror story and not even know it! Picture this: body parts scattered all over the room. We’re talking a regular massacre. But it gets worse. These aren’t just any ol’ body parts. They’re . . . aliiiiive! What’s that, you say? […]
September 8, 2013 by 28 Comments Most Common Writing MistakesMost Common Writing Mistakes: Animate Body Parts
June 28, 2013 by 23 Comments ProseHow to Make Adverbs Work for You
This post is by Janice Hardy (@Janice_Hardy). We hear it all the time: never use adverbs in your writing. Sound advice, but if we follow it to the extreme, we could miss out on their very useful properties. As bad a rep as adverbs have, they’re actually pretty handy during a first draft. They allow us to […]
April 7, 2013 by 66 Comments Most Common Writing MistakesMost Common Writing Mistakes: Overusing “Suddenly”
What’s one of the most overused and unnecessary words in a writer’s repertoire? Try “suddenly.” Now, at first glance, “suddenly” seems pretty innocuous. After all, it’s just a little adverb. It’s so commonplace, it’s almost invisible. And it’s important. Unlike so many useless modifiers, it tells readers exactly how some important action is happening. It […]
March 10, 2013 by 63 Comments ProseMotivation-Reaction Units: Cracking the Code of Good Writing
What’s the secret to good prose? What makes it work—not just on the aesthetic level of vivid and poetic word choices, but on the deeper and ultimately more important level of functionality? In short, is good writing just all luck and gut instinct—or is there a method authors can learn to create clear and powerful […]
September 21, 2012 by 8 Comments ProseUse Adverbs to Create Music for Your Readers’ Ears
The problem with modifiers in general, and adverbs in particular, is they are notorious tellers and a hindrance to good showing. Instead of telling us, “He stormed out of the room angrily,” show us by his actions how an angry man storms out of the room. Show us his clenched fists with white knuckles. Let us hear the boom of […]
September 19, 2012 by 27 Comments Prose3 Reasons to Cut Unnecessary Adverbs From Your Writing
Perhaps the most famous condemnation of adverbs is Mark Twain’s: If you see an adverb, kill it. And yet, the adverb still lives! I’m the first to admit the dreaded adverb still crops up in my work—both inadvertently and purposefully—just as I’m sure it shows up in yours. For that matter, it still makes frequent […]
August 24, 2012 by 10 Comments Editing Your NovelStrengthen Your Writing by Listening to Pet Peeves
When your writing has to answer to someone, you’re going to be faced with a number of annoying “suggestions” from your editors or clients. Even when your copy is grammatically impeccable, they request you change the word “comedic” to “comic” because of some professor they had in college! I received this request from a real editor. It’s nothing but […]
June 27, 2012 by 38 Comments Editing Your NovelA Quick Ode Against “That” (Or, Eliminating Filler Words)
Too often, we bloat our writing with needless filler words. Some of these fillers take the form of a phrase of three or four words in the place of a single word that would get the job done—such as “took a step” instead of just “stepped.” But some are even sneakier, and one of the […]
February 12, 2012 by 51 Comments Prose5 Punctuation Mistakes to Recognize and Avoid
Punctuation in a story is like the spice in a soup. When we’re sipping that soup off our spoons, we’re not likely to notice or identify every spice that has created the uniquely delicious flavor caressing our taste buds. Same goes for punctuation. When shaken out with a skillful hand, the very effectiveness of punctuation […]
August 14, 2011 by 101 Comments Most Common Writing MistakesMost Common Writing Mistakes: 10 Stylistic Mistakes
In writing, little mistakes are often big mistakes. Make sure you’re not letting any of these potentially tragic gaffes sabotage your readers’ trust in your competency. 1. Don’t Capitalize Articles Such as “the” and “and” Articles (such “the,” “an,” and “a”) should not be capitalized in a title, except at the beginning. This: Summer of […]
