What Do All Writers Have in Common?

There's one thing, one thing alone all writers have in common.

It comes before a writer becomes...a writer. And it follows ever after.


It is a sort of being.


And in this being and fulfillment and song and motion the parameters are set for all the things that a writer will become later on.


Before a writer becomes a writer, they are first a

reader.


So read and read and read

And then perhaps you can write and write and write.

ZHZ. 

Editing: Super Tips

Dear Writer,



here are some golden tips for shaping your writing, whether you're polishing a short story or a fifty book series:

1. Remove dialogue tags such as "said" - most of these are redundant or to put it another way, dialogue should speak for itself.

2. Delete weasle words such as:

• very
• little
• pretty
• really
• almost
• seem
• even
• that
• up/down
• in/out
• tried to...
• reached...

3. Use positive terms, not negatives e.g. instead of "he didn't come" write "he was absent".

4. Use concrete nouns. Stay away from the abstract.

5. Remove as many words ending in -ly.

6. Remove as many -ing words as you can.

7. Construct "active" sentences - not passive. If you notice yourself writing something like, "he was thrown by the horse", switch the sentence round to, "the horse threw him".

8. Reduce the number of adjectives.

9. Avoid prepositional phrases.

10. Show don't tell, that is, paint a picture, show me what you see, hear, feel and I'll become you. If you don't you'll just bore me.

Print this small list off and I guarantee you this, by following these guidelines you'll add zing to your writing.

ZHZ.