Words: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

What makes a good book? Yes, there must be character development. Yeah, yeah, and don't forget an interesting plot that sucks readers in and won't let them escape. But what about the little things? The words. I want you to imagine a story is a living, breathing animal. Words are the cells, pages the body systems, chapters the body parts, and the story is the whole being. What if the cells of an animal are all discombobulated? Then everything else will be off. Likewise, if the individual words in a story are tweaked the wrong way, everything else will be wrong. I don't want that. For anyone. So! Listen up! Here's the good, the bad, and the butt ugly words you should/shouldn't use.

First of all, the number one rule of writing is to NEVER make your reader work (besides figuring out who done it). They should never struggle to understanding the point you're trying to make. Always keep the number one rule in mind. If you brake it you louse readers.

Also to keep in mind, stories are to be shown, not told. You can read more about this in my Don't Tell Me, Show! post. In the 1800's, everyone wrote stories in a tell fashion. Things have changes and no one wants to read a story that's told. With this said, there are several words you should never use in your writing. Telling words such as adverbs (-ly words) and present participle (-ing words) are sappy writing. Don't say "they slowly walked down the road" (which everyone seems to do and I don't know why!). Instead, replace "slowly walked" with a word that is precise and, in a way, tidy writing: "they strolled (sauntered, patted, trudged, moseyed, lingered, etc.) down the road". Adverbs are unnecessary and lead to sloppy writing. Yes, you get the point across and an average reader will not see a problem. However! Because you want to be the best writer you can ever become, you will not use adverbs! You will replace them with more effective words! Please! And besides, it’s fun to find words that deliver the point the best.

As for -ing words, avoid them the best you can and replace them with past tense words (-ed). Sometimes I have to use them (because I can't think of anything else or I'm plane lazy). Don't use it often, though.

Dialogue Tags (this is fun stuff here)! Dialogue Tags are the "he said" "she said" phrases. I have been told different tactics about Dialogue Tags and know that every writer has their own method. I'll tell you the three methods I've heard and you find your way. First, spice Dialogue Tags up with, occasionally, using words other than "said". Words such as asked, yelled, cried, screamed, muttered, whispered, snorted, laughed, and a host of others. Readers get bored with seeing "said" every time someone speaks. Change it up. Second, don't use Dialogue Tags at all. Instead of using them, put a character's action in its place, either before or after the dialogue itself. It can be the character's gestures, where they look, if they clear their throat, body language, and so one. Third, have a combination of the two (which is what I do now). Use Dialogue Tags once every 4-5 times an indication of who’s talking is needed. Otherwise, describe the speaker's actions. Make sense? Good.

Last, there are a lot of words and phrases that are just weak sauce. There's several in the sentence you read a second ago. Can you see it? Let's start with the weak words. There are two.

It is "just" and the second "that". WEAK! If I took them out of the sentence, you would still understand my point. Now, the weak phrases. There are two.

"There are" and "a lot." Its weak and I don't need them. Here is how I would rephrase the messed up sentence: "Lastly, curtain words and phrases are weak sauce." Is it easier to read the second sentence version? Most of the time, a sentence needs to be broken down and reshaped to be perfect. Rule of thumb, if a word is not needed, get rid of it!

To clear the air, I follow these rules when I write stories, but not in my blog. I write my blogs as though we're having a conversation. Speaking of how I talk, words used in dialogue is another realm of discussion (which I will share in a future blog).

I hope this helps! Happy writing!

Exercise:

Pick one of the topics I touched on and select one of your written works. Correct it according to the rules you've learned and see how it turns out. Please tell me what you think! I love feedback!