In the early years of my writing career, a magazine editor gently chastised me for using weak verbs in the article I’d submitted. “Use lively verbs,” he told me. Lively verbs? What the heck did that mean? I searched through my article again. Sure enough, most of the verbs I’d used were passive and emotionless….
Tag: word choice
She Cried a River: Best Blogs for Writing Emotion
If you’re like me, when writing on deadline you just toss words into the scene during the rough draft. This helps the pace and power of the scene. Without pondering each sentence to find the precise word, it’s easier to capture the excitement of the scene and accurately present the conflict. After the dust has…
6 Weasel Words to Cut from Your Manuscript
For the past three years, I’ve had the honor of being a first-round judge for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers annual Colorado Gold novel contest. This means I get to read and critique other writers’ first chapters and synopses. Every year, I’m amazed at how much I learn from analyzing these works, from plot structure…
The Impolitic Vagueness of English
I was re-reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and toward the end I was struck by one line of dialog: “I could not have parted with you, my Lizzy, to anyone less worthy.” It is generally accepted that Mr. Bennet is saying that Mr. Darcy is most worthy to marry Elizabeth. But, given everyone’s prior…
Word
Can you get every word right in a whole damn book? Can you? Of course you can uphold standards of precision, clarity, and accuracy in a sentence. Or a page. Or a poem. Or a piece of flash fiction if there’s a $1,000 prize involved. Or a speech at a wedding. Or a cover letter…