The word “was” is an easy fit when writing in the past tense. Along with “had” it is easy to use the word so hard and often that it becomes a distraction. While “was” is a good word and sometimes … Continue reading My problem with “was”
Editing your writing can be a hard process. At least, it is for me. Here are five tips that I think might help your editing and have certainly helped mine. 1. Identify your overused words My overused words include “was” … Continue reading 5 hard-won editing tips
In the game of writing, not all words were created equal. Here are twenty-five weak words writers should avoid. I have included stronger alternatives. Remember that while these words may be commonly used, it’s not necessarily that they are always … Continue reading 25 words most writers should avoid
Word choice matters when crafting a story. Good word choice can make a good story into a great one. Just as poor word choice can make a great story merely okay. In this post, we will look at some tricky … Continue reading Word Choice: The secret power of a great writer
Did you know that Zipf’s law applies to every writer’s word count? Zipf also applies to the word count of all the words you have ever spoken. If you have never encountered Zipf before, it basically means that you use … Continue reading How Zipf’s law applies to every writer’s word count
The number of times I see requests for alternatives to “said” in forums, you’d be forgiven for thinking there was something wrong with the word. It is easy to see where the idea that using said “too much” is bad … Continue reading Is “said” really so bad?
I have to confess that I struggle with creating a vivid sense of place sometimes. Usually when the setting is relatively mundane – some town, some house, someone’s back garden. To help me overcome this weakness, I’ve looked at what the … Continue reading Writing a sense of place according to the Internet
A term that we have used on this blog a lot is “Thanet’s writers”. What do we mean exactly? It could, for example, be taken to mean the historical writers from Thanet’s past. People like Dickens, for example. This is, … Continue reading What do we mean by “Thanet’s writers”?