| State of Being Verbs | | | | which are necessary in a good novel. Description, |
| Avoid using the "to be" verbs which are: am, is, | | | | however, can slow down your narrative. Use this |
| are, was, were, be, been and being. Any sentence | | | | rule of thumb to decide whether to provide a |
| that uses these verbs is "telling," rather than | | | | description in your writing - Does it relate to the |
| "showing," which is what we want. For example, | | | | plot and advance the story? If the answer is no, |
| instead of saying: "Sally is a funny girl," you could | | | | cut it. Writing is all about moving the plot along, |
| say "I like Sally's sense of humor," or "Sally | | | | and if you pause to provide a two page |
| makes me laugh." Even better, you could portray | | | | description of a building, no matter how lovely, |
| her being funny - maybe have her telling jokes, or | | | | you are stopping the action and taking the reader |
| making witty comments, which will completely | | | | out of your story. Pace is everything. Stick with |
| negate the need to say she is funny in the first | | | | the action. |
| place, because the reader will already know. | | | | Avoid Generalizing |
| Excessive Adverbs | | | | In contrast to excessive description, specific |
| Try to avoid using adverbs in your writing, | | | | details are very important to a story. Taking a |
| especially after dialogue. An adverb is a word that | | | | moment to name a street, or a restaurant, or to |
| modifies a verb, adjective, other adverbs, or | | | | briefly describe a dress, makes all the difference |
| various other types of words, phrases, and | | | | to your readers. I recently read a book, which I |
| clauses, and typically are just adjectives that end | | | | won't name, that didn't provide any details. It |
| with the suffix -ly. They will distract the reader | | | | made me so mad! She talked about a dress she |
| from your story. There are too many instances | | | | had chosen to wear out that evening, but didn't |
| of "he said incredulously," or "she said | | | | say a thing about it! She could have said it was a |
| sarcastically." A good story or dialogue will convey | | | | little black dress, or a slinky red evening gown, or |
| the tone you're trying to create without the use | | | | a floral sundress. The fact that she neglected to |
| of an additional descriptor. The reason adverbs | | | | provide such important details really took away |
| are bad, is that they draw attention outside of | | | | from her story. It made it less believable. Most |
| your story. It's important that the reader does | | | | readers do have some imagination, but you have |
| not feel the author's presence but instead, should | | | | to give them something to work with. Expecting |
| be able to absorb the story without distraction. | | | | them to come up with all the details themselves is |
| Excessive Description | | | | unprofessional, and frankly, a bit lazy. |
| Description is very different from specific details, | | | | |