Currently, I am dusting off my work-in-progress, I'm calling it The Swinging Tree. It is 4/5's of the way done. I still need to close up some plot holes, and add a few scenes here and there.
Since I've been editing for the past few months. I've learned an astounding amount of information. At times I thumped my head against my desk, or drooled on my page. BUT, I'm going to apply what I've learned. Or at least I'll try!
All of us authors have bad habits, if you say you don't then you're probably lying. So in an effort to be transparent I'll lay out mine!
- Eliminate Overused words! We all have them. I even have a list: Did, wells up, crisp, remains, surrounds me, reveals (plus many more I've probably forgotten). And I'm pretty sure I'll dig up some new words for my WIP.
- Passive Voice- Sometimes a passive voice is okay because it just fits, but it is more exciting to the reader to live in the moment! So what are some things to look for to clue you in that you're stuck in passive voice? Words like, be, am, is, are, was... Reword the sentence, or even cut. Keep it clear, keep it safe... wait that's talking about something else, but you get the idea.
- I've been known to use 'as' wrong, oh and I really like the phrase as if when I really should be using like. Check out Clifford Garstang's tips for writers! Excellent.
- And lastly, have your characters interact with their environment. Ground them in the scene, give them something to do. Keep it lively, I'm not going to lie, I've been known to act out the scenes. I've fought many a Moriavis, or fallen from a tower.
It's time for me to get busy, and get to work. Someone once said, "if we never made a mistake, we'd never learn." So I'm keeping a running list of my stumbling blocks handy.
Do you have any issues? What are they?
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