Reader, I added that “absolute” in the title in hopes of gaining your attention. I worry that a blog post about simply choosing better verbs could be one you’d skip over. You already know this stuff, right? It’s basic, it’s assumed, it’s Writing 101. But before you write off this article as rudimentary, I want…
One way you can up your writing game is to challenge yourself to look for and eliminate the vast majority of “practical action” sentences in your prose. I’m referring to those functional movements your characters make to accomplish basic tasks. Things like coming downstairs in the morning or walking across the kitchen. The underlined sentence…
One of the biggest decisions you’ll make when writing a novel is where to begin. Of course, your story really begins well before page one, with all the events that made your world what it is and with all the experiences that made your characters who they are. But when we’re talking about page one,…
A few years ago I joined a bunch of writing groups on Facebook. I wanted to see what writers were talking about—I wanted to understand what questions they were asking in hopes that I’d learn how to better help my clients and students. I jumped in here or there to offer support or weigh in…
Here’s what happens to me all the time—I’ll be writing a scene and I need a character to enter the room, or I want two acquaintances to take their seats at a café, or I want to start a new chapter with a strong sense of atmosphere, etc., and I freeze up. I’ll have no…