Seriously. There are a few basic concepts in which you need to become proficient or your writing will suffer the consequences. Don’t take these foibles to task and ultimately, at some point, you will have killed your writing for good.
I recently picked up a book at a thrift store for a buck. Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite
Perfectionists need not apply
Let me be clear from the outset: I am of the opinion that your writing does not have to be perfect. If you strive for perfection then you are in for a long and frustrating trip, spending all of your time at dreary rest stops along the writing highway. With that said, you do need to have a grasp of the language, and you should always be trying to better your command of English.
Any MFA editor could tear most any post I write to shreds. I haven’t put a perfect one out there yet. This bothers me not. I’m very happy with my style and voice and for the most part I try and avoid any egregious transgressions. I know that there are areas that I can improve, and I’m always getting a little better.
Here we go
These are not all necessarily grammar related:
Contractions – I use these all of the time. They are part of my style. I try to write like the voice in my head sounds to me, which is conversational. I’ve not had the opportunity to write something so formal that they would be discouraged. That’s ok with me.
You need to know how to use them appropriately. Placement of the ‘ is crucial. Don’t rely on a spell checker to point these out for you – spell checkers are notorious for getting it wrong.
Commonly goofed up words with contractions: you’re, aren’t, don’t, haven’t I’ve, I’ll and a hundred others. The apostrophe goes in to replace certain letters – not spaces. So are not becomes aren’t. The space between “are” and “not” just goes away and the apostrophe replaces the “o” in not. Think of contractions in these terms and you’ll avoid most contraction crashes.
Proper word usage – If you want the grammar police to come knocking at your door, this is a sure way to make it happen. While I am normally pretty relaxed about this stuff these things may bring me out of the closet wielding a bat: Your and you’re; there, their, they’re; to, too, two.
For the love of Pete, please get these right.
Your is possessive. “George, is that your bat?” You’re is a contraction of you are. “George, you’re going to smack me with that bat?” Please, please, please get this right.
Their is possessive. “George, their intention was not to drive you crazy.” They’re is a contraction of the words “they and “are”. “George, they’re promising to never do it again.”
Adverbs – These verb modifiers will kill your fiction writing, he said sadly. Remember that with all of your writing is is better to show than to tell.
Tyler’s crooked grin was menacing. “Sure, I can help you put that in the truck.”
That sounds a lot better than:
Tyler said menacingly, “Sure, I can help you put that in the truck.”
Adverbs are the quickest way to kill your prose. Don’t use them. Or, use them sparingly, I guess.
Stunted, boring dialogue – Good dialogue is a joy to read, advances the story and is a great tool for character development. Bad dialogue kills your writing. That loud slap you heard was the sound of a reader shutting your book, never to open it again.
Here is an excerpt from my novel in progress, Bully:
The Billisons lived one street over and two houses down. Eddie ran/walked/ran over and just about ran poor Angie over as he rounded the corner of the house.
“Jeez, Eddie. Where’s the fire?!”
“Sorry, Angie.” Eddie gasped. He was bent over, hands resting on his knees, catching his breath. “Denis and…James. Found a…cave. Wanna go see?”
“Whoopee!” Angie clapped her hands and started running.
“Hey, where ya goin’!?”
“To get my bike! I’ll meet you at your house!”
Eddie stood there on the Billison’s front lawn, shaking his head as he watched her go. “That girl is wound up tighter than a ten dollar watch.”
No adverbs, not a lot of extra clutter. But does this brief snippet give you a good idea about the scene and the two characters? I hope so. Simple and true to life.
When writing dialogue, use the voice in your head. Picture the scene and the characters involved. Use dialogue as a great opportunity to build your characters.
That’s not all
I just noticed that my word count is approaching 900 and I hate going more than about 500 so I’m stopping here. I’ll probably do a follow up post at some point, ’cause Lord knows, there’s a lot more than this that is killing your writing.
Your turn. Thoughts and comments about what you think kills writing?
