Add Words for Emphasis

 

Monet's House in France

In the Garden section of our Sunday paper, there was a quote from Claude Monet, the artist. He said, "I must have flowers, always and always." What struck me was not what was said, but in the way he said it. 

Had he only said, "I must have flowers." I would know that he liked flowers--the 'must' tells me he liked them a lot. It is the 'always and always' at the end of the quote that lets me know that flowers are of great importance in Monet's life. 

When I read the quote, the 'always and always' made me stop and go back to read the full quote a couple more times. Simple words which conveyed the famed artist's deep love of flowers. Anyone visiting his home in Giverny, France would readily see his love of flowers in the extensive gardens around the home. And his quote gives proof of that fact. As do many of his paintings.

As much as I admire Monet, my point today is that the way you write a sentence conveys either a little or a great deal. When we write, we should choose our words with care. We often talk about those 'unnecessary' words that creep into what we write--the ones like very, really, that and more. Those we should eliminate. 

When you write a sentence, consider what might be added to let your reader know the importance of what you wrote. If you said, "I hate liver!" your reader knows that you dislike it a lot. But, if your teen-age character said, "I hate liver, bigtime!" you're putting emphasis on the dislike. 

Take a simple statement like "I love you."  You've conveyed the feeling to the reader, but if you write "I love you, today, tomorrow, and forever." your reader knows you are passionate about the person to whom it was said.

"The sky is gray." What if you added to that simple sentence, "The sky is gray, thunderclouds rolling and lightning striking." That gives the reader a fuller image, doesn't it? 

Changing a simple sentence by adding a few words is something you can do when you edit your work. Read with the idea of enlarging on what you have in your draft. Put some emphasis on the thought you were trying to convey. Those two or three additional words show the reader a lot and can make you a better writer.

Don't End Up In The La-La Land of Lost Writing

I have an incredibly busy day today so here's a repeat of a popular post of several months ago. It's a good checklist for whatever you are writing.

We admire strength; it's something we strive for in many parts of our life. Strong writing should figure in the top part of your list of writing goals. We use the term often and maybe even overuse it without giving enough serious thought to what it means to us, as writers.

To me, strong writing has many facets. Here is a partial list:

Sticking to the topic:  Too often, writers end up straying away from the original topic and find themselves writing two essays instead of the one they intended. Eliminate that second topic; save it for another essay to write later.

Perfect, or almost perfect, mechanics (grammar, punctuation, spelling): Don't think an editor is going to 'fix' everything you miss in this department. Have enough errors in this department and your submission will end up in the La-La Land Of Lost Writing.

No rambling:  Nothing is more boring than reading something that makes a point, then rambles on and on about the same thing. Say it and move on.

Active verbs:  We know that active verbs make a story more visual but too often we take the lazy man's way out with too many passives like is, was were...

Good dialogue:  Flat dialogue creates flat characters. Put active, interesting words into the mouths of your characters.

Redundancy:  Give your readers some credit. You can make a point without repeating it in different words. Most of them will 'get it' the first time.

No droning on and on: Similar to redundancy but some writers can drone on and on with the description of a chair. Unless it has great significance to the story, don't do it.

Use metaphors and similes but don't overdo: Use them but don't repeat the same ones in the same story. Some authors seem to find a simile that they like a lot and so they use it again and again. The simile begins to stand out to the reader. Come up with new ones or don't use them. Use any of them sparingly.

No clichés:  Oh, aren't they tempting? We have heard them for years but that's the problem--so have your readers. They prefer something new.

Build tension:  Whether it is fiction or creative nonfiction, do this to make your reader want to keep reading. It can be huge or it can be a small thing, but it's a good way to keep your reader interested.

A good hook at the beginning:  Grab readers with an opening paragraph that piques interest. You also want to do this with an editor reading your submission.  Action works well.

Strong ending: Strength and satisfaction, maybe even a surprise, is called for in the ending of what you write. Haven't we all read a book with a flat ending? I feel cheated when that happens.

What other points would you add to this list? What do you consider to be strong writing?

Use the above as a checklist so your submission does not find a home in the La-La Land Of Lost Writing.

The La-La Land Of Lost Writing--Don't Go There!

We admire strength; it's something we strive for in many parts of our life. Strong writing should figure in the top part of your list of writing goals. We use the term often and maybe even overuse it without giving enough serious thought to what it means to us, as writers.

To me, strong writing has many facets. Here is a partial list:

Sticking to the topic:  Too often, writers end up straying away from the original topic and find themselves writing two essays instead of the one they intended. Eliminate that second topic; save it for another essay to write later.

Perfect, or almost perfect, mechanics (grammar, punctuation, spelling): Don't think an editor is going to 'fix' everything you miss in this department. Have enough errors in this department and your submission will end up in the La-La Land Of Lost Writing.

No rambling:  Nothing is more boring than reading something that makes a point, then rambles on and on about the same thing. Say it and move on.

Active verbs:  We know that active verbs make a story more visual but too often we take the lazy man's way out with too many passives like is, was were...

Good dialogue:  Flat dialogue creates flat characters. Put active, interesting words into the mouths of your characters.

Redundancy:  Give your readers some credit. You can make a point without repeating it in different words. Most of them will 'get it' the first time.

No droning on and on: Similar to redundancy but some writers can drone on and on with the description of a chair. Unless it has great significance to the story, don't do it.

Use metaphors and similes but don't overdo: Use them but don't repeat the same ones in the same story. Some authors seem to find a simile that they like a lot and so they use it again and again. The simile begins to stand out to the reader. Come up with new ones or don't use them. Use any of them sparingly.

No clichés:  Oh, aren't they tempting? We have heard them for years but that's the problem--so have your readers. They prefer something new.

Build tension:  Whether it is fiction or creative nonfiction, do this to make your reader want to keep reading. It can be huge or it can be a small thing, but it's a good way to keep your reader interested.

A good hook at the beginning:  Grab readers with an opening paragraph that piques interest. You also want to do this with an editor reading your submission.  Action works well.

Strong ending: Strength and satisfaction, maybe even a surprise, is called for in the ending of what you write. Haven't we all read a book with a flat ending? I feel cheated when that happens.

What other points would you add to this list? What do you consider to be strong writing?

Use the above as a checklist so your submission does not find a home in the La-La Land Of Lost Writing.

Cut! Slash! Chop!

Cut! Slash! Chop! It's one thing writers must do with no sympathy for the words that must be deleted.

Oh, how hard that is. When we write a first draft and then go back to revise and edit, the last thing we want to do is to get rid of our precious words. Those words are personal. We put those phrases and sentences together and we sure don't want to lose any of them. We tend to want to add more words rather than chop a few.

But wait--it's a necessary evil to cut wherever you can. If you can look objectively at your work, you are likely to find that you often repeat yourself. Redundancy is rife in first drafts. Part of the reason writers tend to repeat themselves is that they want to be very sure the reader 'gets it.' That's something to get over. Readers are far more with it than we sometimes think. If you give them some information once, they'll remember it. You needn't hit them over the head by repeating two, and even three times. 

Another place we can slash is our opening paragraph. I see dozens of submissions and critiques in my onlne writing group each week. Time and again, critiquers will suggest omitting an opening paragraph. Our English teachers of yesteryear taught us to include an introductory paragraph to let the reader know what is to come. I fear that is out of touch in today's world. We writers need to open with action. Open with a bang. Open with a surprise. Open with something that makes the reader want to continue. Hook 'em! 

We can also cut some of the flowery language writers, especially novice writers, tend to use. Stop using two and three adjectives with most of your nouns. One does very nicely and makes your point. Too many flowery descriptions becomes irritating to a reader. There are times they'd like to shout Get on with it!  

Long, drawn-out sections of dialogue are not necessary. Use dialogue. It's important. But use it wisely. Let your characters say only what is pertinent to moving the story from one point to another. Can the chatter; make each word a character says count. 

Writers have a tendency to over-inform the reader. They want to give a great deal of background material that probably has nothing to do with the story itself. Say what is important and no more. Giving too much information tends to divert the reader's attention. 

Cut where you can and you'll end up with a stronger story, essay or article. Time is the enemy in our world today. People still read but they want a short, clean read. No time for unnecessary words or paragraphs. It's a fact of life in this 21st century and writers had better go with the flow. 

Pay Attention to Parts of Speech

The last post for this week on the things that will keep you from sloppy writing is about the parts of speech. Those words that have useful places in a sentence. Nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and more. You often include them in your writing without giving a whole lot of thought to their meanings and usage. 

Google parts of speech and you'll come up with an amazing number of articles to review using them. One I liked can be read here.

Strong is a keyword for all the parts of speech. You want strength in your verbs especially. It's all too easy to use those weak, passive verbs that are like limp spaghetti. Strive for as many actions verbs as possible. They will help show rather than tell, another important part of writing. 

Use one strong adjective rather than 3 weak ones. Overuse of adjectives is a common mistake new writers make. Watch the use of adverbs. Fewer is better than too many. Again, using too many adverbs results in more telling than showing. 

An entire article could be written about each of the parts of speech, but today I have two grandchildren watching over my shoulder as I write this, so I'm keeping it short. The main idea here is to be aware of the parts of speech and what they can or cannot do for the quality of your writing.