Writing Well Part 1
Writing Well Part 2
Writing Well Part 3
Active vs. Passive Voice
TV Tropes -Courtesy of Blackadder
Writing with Style -Courtesy of cam`
Parenthesis in Fiction
Basic Screen-Writing Info - Courtesy of Eor
Cinergy, freeware script formatting program -Courtesy of Eor
Barron- The Art of Styling Sentences -Courtesy of Raul
Overcoming Writer's Block
I begin with these because they are pretty good articles that can help with your writing, no matter what it's for. The purpose of this thread is for people to share tips, hints and ideas about improving the quality of your writing. Post helpful websites, good books to read, personal experience or anything else that can be useful for this community of writers.
Wordiness
I have a great deal of experience with this. I used to believe that the way to write was to use as many descriptive words as possible to paint a mental picture for the reader. In actuality, a good writer tries to paint that same picture using as few words as possible. My creative writing teacher had a phrase he liked to use: "lean writing". He would tell me to take a knife to my prose and cut all the fat, usually in the form of overly descriptive language. I read somewhere that you should try to eliminate at least one adjective from every sentence in your writing. I try to write by this rule, and I've found it very helpful.
"Show the reader, don't tell us," he would say as well. It took me a long time to figure out what he meant by this, but it also relates to the overuse of words. This example is from an old story of mine:
Say what needs to be said; nothing more, nothing less. Alot of writers confuse quality with quantity, and you do not want to be one of them.
Writing Well Part 2
Writing Well Part 3
Active vs. Passive Voice
TV Tropes -Courtesy of Blackadder
Writing with Style -Courtesy of cam`
Parenthesis in Fiction
Basic Screen-Writing Info - Courtesy of Eor
Cinergy, freeware script formatting program -Courtesy of Eor
Barron- The Art of Styling Sentences -Courtesy of Raul
Overcoming Writer's Block
I begin with these because they are pretty good articles that can help with your writing, no matter what it's for. The purpose of this thread is for people to share tips, hints and ideas about improving the quality of your writing. Post helpful websites, good books to read, personal experience or anything else that can be useful for this community of writers.
Wordiness
I have a great deal of experience with this. I used to believe that the way to write was to use as many descriptive words as possible to paint a mental picture for the reader. In actuality, a good writer tries to paint that same picture using as few words as possible. My creative writing teacher had a phrase he liked to use: "lean writing". He would tell me to take a knife to my prose and cut all the fat, usually in the form of overly descriptive language. I read somewhere that you should try to eliminate at least one adjective from every sentence in your writing. I try to write by this rule, and I've found it very helpful.
"Show the reader, don't tell us," he would say as well. It took me a long time to figure out what he meant by this, but it also relates to the overuse of words. This example is from an old story of mine:
The bolded areas are prime examples of telling. What do those sentences add to the paragraph that hasn't already been stated? Didn't I SHOW the reader the twilight of the forest with the description? Does the reader need to know that men returned missing appendages? The stricken areas are simply useless words. They serve no point, so they must go. The italicized areas should be re-written to reduce clutter and improve clarity. Now, here's what a re-write should look like:A soft rustling caught Sheela’s attention. She’d been tracking a wild boar for nearly five hours, following it into the deepest part of the forest. It was always twilight here. The sun’s rays barley managed to trickle through the layers of dense foliage that formed the ceiling. There was almost as much growth on the forest floor, as monstrous mushrooms protruded from the sides of tree trunkstoppled by the fierce storms that sometimes visited this region. Children throughout the Ashwan tribe knew of this area as the Black Woods, a place where witches and fantasy monsters dwelled.Although the adults knew that those stories weren’t true,they still only ventured into that place when it was necessary. Ashwan boars were well-known for their violent tendencies, and more than one man had returned from a group hunt missing an appendage.
I just went from 140 words to 61, while keeping the same message. This is what you want to accomplish in the editing phase. Don't just look for misspelled words and typos. Take your knife out, and trim the fat where you can. It will make your story flow more smoothly, and maintain your readers attention better, since they don't have to stumble over useless words.A soft rusling caught Sheela's attention. She'd followed her prey into the deepest part of the forest. The sun's rays barely penetrated the dense tree cover. Ashwan children called it the Black Woods, a place where witches and monsters dwelled. The adults feared it for the predators, especially the boars. Huge and violent, they tore through flesh and bone with ease.
Say what needs to be said; nothing more, nothing less. Alot of writers confuse quality with quantity, and you do not want to be one of them.