These are notes from an online workshop created by creators of ProWriting aid. Software. Check out their product. They have software to check on issue listed below, plus others. website: prowaitingaid.com
Any misinformation is the fault of the note taker.
Spot passive voice:
memorize the words. State of be verbs. Some put the passive words to music to memorize the words:
Googled: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARaEpSAD-ng
Googled: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI7so1pDcWI
Ex of passive voice: The wedding cake was baked by Ben (passive)
You can check passive voice by seeing if you can end a sentence (after the verb) by the phrase ‘by zombies” at the end of your sentence it is passive voice. The wedding cake was backed by zombies.
You want to write as simply as possible.
Avoid duplicates:
Walked into frozen ice. Ice tells you it’s frozen,
She nodded her head. What else would she nod?
He blinked his eyes .what else would he blink
She shrugged her shoulder.
They heard the sounds of
Clichés:
Diamond in the rough
Easy as pie
Light as a feather
Missing dialog tags:
Most common is said or asked. Never used asked; because the ‘?’ tells you it’s a question.
Some will use snort, laugh, gasped. Dialog tags can extract the reader
Ok to use yell or whisper called out
Your character’s voice must be strong enough that you have no doubt who is talking.
Some will use action beats to identify who is talking. You want your character’s voice to help identify who is speaking
Show, don’t tell:
Don’t tell me it is cold it outside. Show the character turning the collar up, putting hands into the pocket.
Don’t tell me he is angry. Show me him kicking something. Throwing something. or shouting
Don’t tell me she was nervous. Show me fidget
Look for words felt, show knew felt sure. He was happy. Shows telling. Bill knew Jason was lying. Show it by describing by stammering looking away, avoiding eye contact.
Misuse of overuse of Adverbs:
Smiled slightly
Almost laughed
Frowned a bit.
Often a sign of weak writing. Can be helped by a stronger verb.
Omit needless words
Cutting adds power to your text.
i.e.: that, often not necessary
Very, often weakens
Located on the back part of the book. cut located, part. put in ‘the back of the book, and
Watch for useless words.
Sticky sentences:
Sentences have high do words. ie: is, on, the etc. They are words that don’t have a use but to make writing clear.
Glue words are structure words. 200 used words that are not a pronoun.
Dave walked over into the backyard in order to see the bike in the other yard to use in class. Use less words. Instead: Dave checked the schoolyard for a new bike to use in class.
so sometimes when the sermon seems long… cut sometimes.
Echo phrases:
Writers use a turn of phrase frequently.
Sentences should ebb and flow. avoid clusters that avoid a bunch of sentences of the same length. the same can be said for paragraphs.
Q: some will do a rewrite edit session on what was written the day before. Do it every day.
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