Writing Craft: Watch Out For These Killers

If you use the words below, you will be marked for a rank amateur.  Avoid them whenever you can.   

Writing Craft: Power Verbs

Verbs can be a lot of fun. Don’t get caught in a rut! Step out of that box! March to the beat of a different drummer! 

You like my clichés? Don’t use them. They are annoying and trite.  If you’re reading this blog, you should be beyond such drivel!  But I digress… back to the verbs.

When I first started writing, I was poor at grammar. Still am, but I created an Idiot List to help me remember what I needed to know.  If you aren’t sure about something, check on line. A wealth of information is available if you will just avail yourself of it! <tongue in cheek>

Anemic Verbs

Some verbs should be buried. Some are so common they have lost value. Mundane words signify a mundane writer. Give your writing a transfusion with power verbs.

The verb to be is worn out, passive, and should be eliminated whenever possible. Excessive use screams first draft! It isn’t easy, but a skilled writer finds a way around them. Write with strength, find better choices!

Verb – to be:

am	isn’t
are	it was
aren’t	to be
be	were
being

Writing Craft: No-No Words

Some words wave a red flag that screams NOVICE!  I know it’s impossible to not use them, but limit their use whenever possible.  Some are pretentious, and some are simply worn out. 

Over the years, I compiled this list to help tighten my writing.  Don’t worry about them in your first draft, but when you go back for editing, look for them.  Use your FIND function to highlight them. Then reread your document and try to restructure your sentences to eliminate them.

Many programs are different, especially on the newer programs, but I use Office 2003.  Go to EDIT / FIND. Then type in the word you want to find.  Hit enter and it will go to the first time that word is used.  Highlight the word and click the box to go to the next one.

You may find you use these words far too often. 

Writing Craft: What is a Character?

What are characters?

• They are the individuals with whom you people your universe. Without them, there is no story. They either do things or things are done to them.

Life in a Zoo: The Fictional Version- Sweetie's Blackest Moment

When writing a story, at some point the main character must go through a devastating event. It is called the Black Moment. The writer must bring the character to the height of hope and expectation. Then some horrible thing happens that makes it seem like the end of the world.  Now the character must recover from that experience.

Writing Craft - Show Don't Tell

One of the hallmarks of skilled writing is the ability to draw the reader into the world you’ve created.

The reader wants to have sympathy for your character. He wants to feel what your character feels and experience what the character experiences. One of the primary reasons for recreational reading is to escape from reality and be somewhere else.

If your story doesn’t draw the reader in quickly, he will lose interest. Your story must pop with experiences that use the senses. Immerse your reader in sensory experiences. He must be able to touch, taste, smell, hear, and see the world you’ve created. Your job is to find words that convey those messages.

Writing Craft - Peopling Your World

When I started writing my first novel, (which will never get published… to many problems and nothing more than an exercise in futility). I realized I didn’t know what my villain looked like. No matter what I thought about, I could not envision this man.  I could not describe him.

Stumped, I looked through magazines for ideas, but he definitely wasn’t the fashion model type.  National Geographic didn’t help, either. 

Several weeks later I was browsing through my photo file of vacation pictures to Charleston, South Carolina.  Suddenly, I stopped and studied a crowd of passers-by. Right in the center of the screen was an angular, lanky man. His baseball cap crammed down on greasy dark hair pulled at an angle to almost hide his eyes. He had tight lips and a grim expression.  By his stance, I could see he was going some place in a hurry. My villain! I’d found my villain!