Profiting from Reader Feedback

Last month I worked night after night to finish two sample chapters for a publisher interested in my book proposal. Faithfully, I toiled away—writing, crafting, rewriting, revising, writing, and rewriting some more.

Tip #5: Revision Strategy – Cut Adverbial Fat

Today’s tip will help you become a better revisionist and editor of your own writing.  Our focus is on cutting “adverbial fat.” Think about it.  Do these adverbs improve the reader’s view into your subject?  Decidedly, definitely, distinctly, absolutely, certainly, positively…  The answer is NO.

What is an adverb? Adverbs add meaning to verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.  But if you choose precise language to say what you mean, adverbs clutter and weaken your prose. Read more

Writing and Thinking: An Important Connection

Working as a writing tutor during my first year in graduate school I learned to perform triage.  

The writing lab, you see, was a busy place, very much like a hospital’s emergency room.  Many students walked in at the last minute in a state of panic, hoping to have their papers edited right before they were due. The role of the writing tutor, however, was not to give quick fixes, but to give guidance and strategies to help improve writing skills. But because we had limited time and staffing resources, tutors had a clear purpose: find the bleeding in the writing and help stop it. 

But to find this bleeding, I first had to rely on the writer’s feedback.  ”What do you think is the problem with this paper?” I’d ask.

Nine out of ten writers offered the same response: “Grammar.” I’d believe them, of course, and quickly proceeded to read their work in search for the grammar hemorrhage. Soon I realized that, in most cases, grammar was the least of the their problems.  Eventually, I also learned a most profound lesson — one that deeply influenced the way I teach writing — that gibberish can be perfectly grammatical. Believe me, I have proof.   

Why is this concept important for the servant writer?  Read more

Tip #3: C.S. Lewis on Using the Right Word

“In writing, don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the things you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us the thing is ‘terrible,’ describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was ‘delightful’; make us say ‘delightful’ when we’ve read the description. Read more

Energize Your Writing with Dynamic Verbs

Here’s a revising strategy to help your writing stand out:  get rid of unnecessary “be” verbs swarming around your writing.  Overusing the verb “to be” (is, am, are, was, were, been, being) will suck the life right out of your prose. 

“Be” verbs indicate state of being.  Boring! 

Why not replace them with vibrant verbs that breathe life into your writing – writing others want to read. 

Here’s the challenge: go through your writing and circle all the “be” forms and see if you can inject action instead by replacing many of them with dynamic and descriptive verbs.  You will improve your writing immediately. 

Below is a verb makeover I performed on a student’s writing sample after she said, “I tried and just couldn’t find other verbs that would fit.”  Here’s a tip: in the process of finding better verbs, you will be forced to write better sentences.  Revision is more than removing dead wood and inserting pretty foliage in its place. Read more