One of the stickiest questions any writer is likely to face is: What’s the difference between a reactive protagonist and a passive protagonist? If you’ve been studying story structure with me, then you know I talk a lot about how your protagonist needs to be reactive in the first half of the book. But this idea […]
February 27, 2015 by 52 Comments ProseTo Be or Not To Be: In Defense of the Passive Voice
Recently, one of my critique partners asserted that any use of the verb to be formed the passive voice and deserved to be stamped out with as much vigor as possible. This got me to thinking about that misunderstood verb form and the use of passive voice in modern fiction. All of my critique partners […]
June 22, 2011 by 24 Comments CharactersThe Perils of a Passive Protagonist
The pitfall of a passive protagonist is easier to fall into than writers might sometimes think. Whether your book is a high-speed espionage thriller or a cozy romance, the fuel that makes it run is action. Something is happening to your protagonist—presumably the something of his life (because if not, why tell this story?). And […]
February 16, 2011 by 20 Comments ProseAre You Overusing Passive Verbs?
In narrative writing, active verbs are usually preferable to passive verbs for the simple reason that the active voice offers more options for bringing a sentence to life and infusing it with… action! Although passive verbs certainly have their place, it’s good to remind ourselves from time to time of how much more power we […]
February 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment Writing Life5 Writing Rules You Should Break
Today, I’m guest posting on Victoria Mixon’s blog with the post “5 Writing Rules You Should Break“: Writers and pirates have more in common than you might think. Aside from the truth that we all enjoy roaring out a hearty, “ahoy, matey,” now and then, the biggest commonality is the fact that neither of us […]
January 9, 2011 by 74 Comments Most Common Writing MistakesMost Common Writing Mistakes: Are You Using “There” as a Crutch?
When used as a pronoun, the utilitarian word “there” becomes an insidiously easy way for writers to get their point across. “There” gets the job done, no doubt about it. But using “there” at the beginning of sentences and phrases is the lazy way out. Whenever you see the word “there” used as a pronoun, […]
April 25, 2010 by 63 Comments Editing Your Novel10 Ways to Write Skinny Sentences
If brevity is the soul of wit, then economy is the energy of prose. Let’s hear it for skinny sentences! Don’t get me wrong: I love complex, twisty, beautiful sentences. As Aleksandar Hemon pointed out in an interview with The Writer magazine: I like to push language toward poetry, to activate the dormant possibilities inherent in it. […]
May 31, 2009 by 37 Comments ProseActive Voice vs. Passive Voice: How to Use Both to Get the Most Out of Your Writing
Most of us learned about sentences in grammar school. Most of us also promptly forgot all about them after grammar school. This is why, I presume, the art of correctly using the active voice and the passive voice in our fiction is something almost all of us have to relearn at some point in our […]
