18 Common Words That You Should Replace in Your Writing It’s a familiar scene: you’re slumped over your keyboard or notebook, obsessing over your character. While we tend to agonize over everything from structure to backstory, it’s important to weigh how you write something too. A perfectly constructed world is flat on the page if you use feeble, common words. Good High on any list of most used English words is “good.” New Another of the common words in English is “new.” Long Much like “new,” “long” is spent, yet it doesn’t always register as such while you’re writing. Old “Old” is certainly one of those common words that means more to readers if you’re specific about how old a subject is. Right “Right” is also among the common words that tends to slip through our writer filters. Different Here’s another adjective that falls a bit flat for readers, but can also easily be improved by getting more specific. Small “Small” is another adjective that is too generic for writing as good as yours. Large Next Young Never Things All Feel Seem Almost Just Went Related
How To Inspire Yourself To Write At Least 750 Words Per Day 750 words was originally designed to help writer creativity, by encouraging writers to write 750 words on any topic first thing in the morning. The theory is that once you start writing and getting the ideas on paper you have both begun your writing and have formed more coherent thought processes about what you will write. Why Write 750 Words? Writing without a plan is an ideal method to overcome writer’s block, since you relieve the pressure of writing formally, yet encourage the flow of ideas. By teaming this concept with a beautiful, distraction-free interface for writing, 750 words is a great way for writers to begin their morning. Writing is deliberately kept private – there is no way to make this writing public using the 750 words site. How To Begin With 750 Words Sign up is simple using Facebook, Google, Yahoo or OpenID for access. If you wish, 750 words will email you a daily reminder to write 750 words. To use, simply write. The page is clean and simple. Badges For Motivation
Synonyms for words commonly used in student's writing Amazing- incredible, unbelievable, improbable, fabulous, wonderful, fantastic, astonishing, astounding, extraordinary Anger- enrage, infuriate, arouse, nettle, exasperate, inflame, madden Angry- mad, furious, enraged, excited, wrathful, indignant, exasperated, aroused, inflamed Answer- reply, respond, retort, acknowledge Ask- question, inquire of, seek information from, put a question to, demand, request, expect, inquire, query, interrogate, examine, quiz Awful- dreadful, terrible, abominable, bad, poor, unpleasant Beautiful - pretty, lovely, handsome, attractive, gorgeous, dazzling, splendid, magnificent, comely, fair, ravishing, graceful, elegant, fine, exquisite, aesthetic, pleasing, shapely, delicate, stunning, glorious, heavenly, resplendent, radiant, glowing, blooming, sparkling Begin - start, open, launch, initiate, commence, inaugurate, originate Brave - courageous, fearless, dauntless, intrepid, plucky, daring, heroic, valorous, audacious, bold, gallant, valiant, doughty, mettlesome
Avoid Burnout as an Online Writer - Choose Jobs Wisely | Free Writing Center Along with the plethora of new opportunities that are available throughout the Online Content industry, there is the issue of too much work and not enough time. If you’re anything like me and you hate passing up good income-generating opportunities, it can be hard to say no. The Schedule of an Online Writer Making an income from writing is unfortunately still scorned upon by older, traditional folks who believe that a job should be something that you “drive into” by 8am and then “drive home from” by 5pm, along with the rest of the rush hour crowd. This is the right thing to do. Well, let me tell you something about the right thing…when you are capable of generating a high volume of quality writing, and you can get paid for that writing, you best believe that the income you can earn from your skills will be just as good as any 9-to-5 job that you’ll find with any corporation. The issue is the stereotype of the Internet. Too Many Opportunities 4 Signs of a Good Online Writing Opportunity
45 ways to avoid using the word 'very' Writers Write is your one-stop resource for writers. Use these 45 ways to avoid using the word ‘very’ to improve your writing. Good writers avoid peppering their writing with qualifiers like ‘very’ and ‘really’. According to Collins Dictionary: ‘Padding is unnecessary words or information used to make a piece of writing or a speech longer. Adding modifiers, qualifiers, and unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, weakens your writing. This post gives you 45 ways to avoid using the padding word ‘very’. Three Telling Quotes About ‘Very’ “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. If you enjoyed this, you will love: Top Tip: If you want to learn how to write a book, sign up for our online course. by Amanda Patterson © Amanda Patterson
Margaret Moore - Narrative Tension This column is based on questions Margaret gets asked by those who also want to write romance novels. The answers are based on her personal experience. Every author must and should find their own way along this path; however, sometimes it helps to know how it was for an author who's reached the goal of publication. This column's question: Narrative Tension: What is it and how do I get it? Margaret answers: To put it in its most simple terms, narrative tension is what keeps the reader reading, because they're wondering what's going to happen next. The best way to do that, in a romance or any other work of fiction, is to create characters that the readers care about, that they feel emotionally invested in. But there's more to it than that. In a romance, the reader knows the eventual outcome (a lasting, loving relationship between the hero and heroine), so the narrative tension comes from the various conflicts. HOWEVER,unrelieved tension is not good, either. Index of Aspiring Author Columns
100 Exquisite Adjectives By Mark Nichol Adjectives — descriptive words that modify nouns — often come under fire for their cluttering quality, but often it’s quality, not quantity, that is the issue. Plenty of tired adjectives are available to spoil a good sentence, but when you find just the right word for the job, enrichment ensues. Subscribe to Receive our Articles and Exercises via Email You will improve your English in only 5 minutes per day, guaranteed! 21 Responses to “100 Exquisite Adjectives” Rebecca Fantastic list! How To Kill Your Imaginary Friends Repetition (rhetorical device) Repetition is the simple repeating of a word, within a sentence or a poetical line, with no particular placement of the words, in order to secure emphasis. This is such a common literary device that it is almost never even noted as a figure of speech. It also has connotations to listing for effect and is used commonly by famous poets such as Philip Larkin. Antanaclasis is the repetition of a word or phrase to effect a different meaning "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." (Benjamin Franklin) Epizeuxis or palilogia is the repetition of a single word, with no other words in between. "Words, words, words." Conduplicatio is the repetition of a word in various places throughout a paragraph. "And the world said, 'Disarm, disclose, or face serious consequences'—and therefore, we worked with the world, we worked to make sure that Saddam Hussein heard the message of the world Anadiplosis is the repetition of the last word of a preceding clause.
7 Examples of Passive Voice (And How To Fix Them) by Mark Nichol The sentence construction “(noun) (verb phrase) by (noun)” is known as passive voice or passive construction, because the true subject is relegated to the end of the sentence and is thus acted on, rather than acting, which often weakens the statement. The solution is simple: Give the focal point of the sentence its due — “(noun) (verb) (noun),” and demote the false subject to the back of the line. Note that not every passive construction is evil — sometimes what seems to be the false subject is worthy of prominence — but a preponderance of passive constructions leads to a wearying read. 1. “There is a considerable range of expertise demonstrated by the spam senders.” The actors in this little drama are the spam spenders — or, to be more active, the spam senders are the actors in this little drama. 2. Again, the subject is weak and indeterminate. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Remember when I wrote that not every passive voice should be targeted for reconstruction?
List of forms of word play This is a list of techniques used in word play with Wikipedia articles. Techniques that involve the phonetic values of words Mondegreen: a mishearing (usually unintentional) ase as a homophone or near-homophone that has as a result acquired a new meaning. The term is often used to refer specifically to mishearings of song lyrics (cf. soramimi).Onomatopoeia: a word or a grouping of words that imitates the sound it is describingRhyme: a repetition of identical or similar sounds in two or more different words Alliteration: matching consonants sounds at the beginning of wordsAssonance: matching vowel soundsConsonance: matching consonant soundsHolorime: a rhyme that encompasses an entire line or phraseSpoonerism: a switch of two sounds in two different words (cf. sananmuunnos)Janusism: the use of phonetics to create a humorous word (e.g. GAYsha from Geisha)) Techniques that involve semantics and the choosing of words Techniques that involve the manipulation of the entire sentence or passage
Writers Digest - Motivate Your Characters Like a Pro Edgar-nominated author D.P. Lyle, MD, advises that to begin developing a character’s motivation, you should first decide where he or she falls—at the beginning of your story—in each of these key spectrums: Tough Guy <–> Whiner Team Guy <–> Rebel Artist <–> Dreamer Smarty <–> Dummy Blooming Rose <–> Wallflower Grinder <–> Lazy Dog Goody <–> Baddy Believer <–> Doubter Now, look ahead to where you plan for your story to end. Lyle illustrates this with his example of what he calls “the perfect thriller:” The Terminator. To see why, perform the above exercise, measuring Sarah Connor’s character trajectory on all of the above spectrums. Now, try it with your own characters in your work-in-progress. Afraid your character’s motivation isn’t strong enough? Become a WD VIP and Save 10%: Get a 1-year pass to WritersMarket.com, a 1-year subscription to Writer’s Digest magazine and 10% off all WritersDigestShop.com orders! You might also like:
Figure of speech A figure of speech is the use of a word or a phrase, which transcends its literal interpretation. It can be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it, as in idiom, metaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, or synecdoche. Figures of speech often provide emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity. However, clarity may also suffer from their use, as any figure of speech introduces an ambiguity between literal and figurative interpretation. A figure of speech is sometimes called a rhetorical figure or a locution. Rhetoric originated as the study of the ways in which a source text can be transformed to suit the goals of the person reusing the material. The four fundamental operations[edit] The four fundamental operations, or categories of change, governing the formation of all figures of speech are:[1] Examples[edit] Figures of speech come in many varieties.