Perk Up Your Prose: Tips to Take Your Writing from

Stagnant to Stunning

No Bad Writing!

• Example from one of my WIPs: “She screamed at the top of her lungs.”

• It’s cliche.

• It’s telling.

• It’s unemotional (a.k.a. BORING!).

• It’s wordy.

• It’s not even physically possible.

• Besides -- what did her lungs do to

• Polish the PUGS

• Resist the Urge to Explain

• Trim the Fat

• Weed Out Wordiness

• Prune Prepositions

• Avoid Backing In

• Cut Clichés

• Patch POV Glitches

• Show, Don’t Tell

• Ditch the Danglers

• Ready, Set, Action!

• Eliminate the Great Backstory Dump

Part I -- Breaking Bad Habits (The Dirty Dozen)

Polish the PUGS

• Punctuation

• Usage

• Grammar

• Spelling

Resist the Urge to Explain

• Readers are smart -- give them credit.

• Explaining the already explained bogs the story with excess baggage.

Trim the Fat

• Prefer the familiar to the far-fetched

• Prefer the concrete to the abstract

• Prefer the specific to the vague

Weed Out Wordiness

• Certain words fly the red flag of wordiness

• Vague qualifiers

• Unnecessary adverbs

• Redundancies

Prune Prepositions

• Cut the Dead Weight

• Reduce overcrowdedness

• Leave the Good Stuff

Avoid Backing In

• Begin sentences with subjects and verbs -- and then branch right (old journalism rule).

• John Steinbeck was a master at this technique.

Cut Clichés

• Clichés are:

• Almost always “telling.”

• Boring because they’re predictable.

• Lazy writing.

Patch POV Glitches

• Whose story is it, anyway?

• Limit one POV per scene (and to one POV for short stories & essays).

• Who would think that?

Show, Don’t Tell

• Use dialogue

• Use sensory language

• Be descriptive

• Be specific

Ditch Dangling Modifiers

• Dangling modifiers have no object.

• Many dangling modifiers result from passive voice.

Ready, Set, Action!

• The problem with passiveness . . .

• It’s telling.

• It’s boring.

• It’s not specific.

• It’s often lazy writing.

Eliminate the Great Backstory Dump

• Place backstory as late in the story as possible.

• Make the reader wonder.

• Introduce backstory bit by bit.

• Ground the Reader

• Do You Hear What I Hear (see, feel, etc.)?

• Emotional Impact

• Literary Devices

• Think Like a Cinematographer

• Set the Scene

• Storytelling vs. Reporting

• Listen to Your Critics

• Funny Thing, Research

• Dynamic Dialogue

• Create Cliffhangers

• Brainstorming Tips

Part II -- Rev Up Your Writing

Ground the Reader

• Who?

• What?

• When?

• Where?

• Why?

• How?

Do You Hear What I Hear (See, Feel, Taste, Smell)?

• Does each scene include sensory details?

• Be specific and if possible, attach the sense to an emotional experience.

Emotional Impact

• You’re not paid to be nice!

• Are You Motivated?

• Go for the Goal!

• Stacking the Dominoes . . .

Literary Devices

• Alliteration

• Onomatopoeia

• Personification

• Simile

• But wait -- there’s more!

Think Like a Cinematographer

• Pull back the lens and shift your focus.

• Aerial View

• Establishing Shot

• Middle Distance

• Close-up

Set the Stage

• Is your setting:

• particular?

• Appropriate?

• Consistent?

• Believable?

Storytelling vs. Reporting

• Reporters convey information; stories create experience.

• Reports transfer knowledge -- stories transport the reader.

Listen to Your Critics

• No one enjoys criticism -- especially of a creative work.

• Use all critiques as a positive learning experience and you will grow as

Funny Thing, Research

• Search for the Truth -- because someone will know if you don’t.

• Don’t Scream, “I did my research!”

Dynamic Dialogue

• Tag, Don’t Tell

• Talk Like a Man (or woman, or child . . .)

• Adding “Oomph”

• Basic format

Internal Cliffhangers

• Leave the reader in suspense by ending with a dramatic element before breaks in action.

• Dare the reader to stop reading.

Brainstorming Tips

• Listen to music.

• People watch.

• Character correspondence.

• Pick a partner.

• Get in tune with nature.

• Read poetry.

• Conduct a word study.