IMPROVE YOUR PROSE
IMPORTANT!
Take the trouble to learn about ACTIVE VOICE and PASSIVE VOICE if you want your prose to sparkle and attract the attention of editors. It's a tricky concept involving the technicalities of English grammar. Google, Read, Research and get to grips with it. A very simple example: The car was driven by John (passive) John drove the car (active) A long sentence in the passive voice can become tiresome for the reader i.e. wading through waffle before one gets to the point. Change to the active voice and there is immediacy drawing the reader nearer the story. |
- GEORGE ORWELL´S SIX RULES OF WRITING (1903-1950)
1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English
equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous
KURT VONNEGUT - EIGHT RULES OF WRITING (1922-2007)
Essays, fiction, film and television adaptations of his own works. He began with writing science fiction, short stories and novels, but focused on political writings and painting in his later life.
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted,
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things - reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to
them - in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak,
your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense.
Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they
could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
WRITERS' FORUM MAGAZINE PUBLISHED THE FOLLOWING ITEM...
Guide to Tight Writing
- If you are having trouble writing to a set length or your narrative doesn't flow in either a feature or a short story, the following hints may help.
- Take out all adverbs and adjectives.
- Strengthen all verbs.
- Be active, not passive.
- Put all facts before opinions.
- Take out AND, BUT, HOWEVER, SO and MEANWHILE at the start of sentences, you will be surprised how many are redundant.
- Replace only those that are essential.
- In dialogue it should be clear who is speaking without continued use of he said, she said, Jones explained, the inspector confirmed etc.
- Vary length of sentences and paragraphs.
- Break up narrative with direct quotes, and likewise break up long passages of direct quotes with reported speech.
- Always try to think of a headline or good title for your copy - preferably one not contained in the first sentence.
- Remember, any illustration or picture submitted with an article doubles and sometimes trebles the chances of its acceptance.
- Try writing the first and last paragraph of a story or feature at the same time, perhaps repeating an unusual word or phrase. This implies that the article has been well thought out and constructed.
- Remember when editing your own copy that the most important part is the beginning - 75% of editing concerns beginnings and endings.
- Among the deadly sins for writers are: Tautology - clichés - solecisms
- If you cannot get started on a piece of fiction, try copying out on a pad with a pencil a page of your favourite author. This is like a warm up session before an aerobics class and will get you started.