Writers (myself included) go into the craft with at least a few misconceptions about how to write well.

Since we’ve established that every writer has a style, here’s some easy technical ways to improve your already-existing style (especially if you’re still new at this like me).

Just a few of many common stylistic pitfalls that can ‘expose’ amateur writers (even writers that’ve been writing for years):

1. Heavy use of words that end in -ly.
We’re taught that adverbs ‘modify’ adjectives. Modify sounds like a positive thing, like an enhancement, right? So, starting in second grade, we’re encouraged to use lots of adverbs.
I use adverbs quite often (fair-ly frequent-ly) in my casual, everyday writing/emails and blogging. But whenever you throw an adverb into a story that may someday grace an agent’s eyes, you have to ask yourself: “Is this word necessary?”

Nine times out of ten, it isn’t.

ex: “quickly ran”
If you’re running, you’re probably moving quick in the first place.
This form of redundancy slows your story down (oh, the irony!), making it less likely to keep the reader’s attention.

ex: “He carefully made his way across the muddy slope,” isn’t wrong, but I would reword it. Maybe something like: “With careful footing, he crossed the muddy slope.”

ex: “Maybe if you actually bothered to look in the drawer for once….”

In this example, the word ‘actually’ adds some emotional impact to the sentence without being redundant, so it can stay, but it can also go. 50/50 here. Just try not to have too many -ly words, especial-ly not on the same page.

There’s no wrong answers, but it can’t hurt to do an ‘ly’ search on your latest manuscript and analyze each case, asking yourself similar questions.

I’ll add that I sometimes leave the -ly words during the first draft alone, to re-analyze during a revision.

2. Use of the word ‘very’.

Cindi wasn’t feeling very well. She decided calling in would be the best course of action, but felt very guilty for the rest of the day.

It’s rare you actually need the word ‘very’. In almost all instances, it can be dropped (or replaced by something better).

Remember, the key to telling an effective story is often to say more in fewer words. You don’t want to bore your readers before they can get to the first major plot point. So anything you can do to get rid of extra padding on sentences without losing the intended meaning helps make your writing seem more effective.

3. Over-use of short, solitary, impactful sentences to make an idea stand out.
Again, I tend to do this a lot while blogging, but I avoid it as much as possible when I’m writing a manuscript. Following a paragraph with a single separated sentence, such as…

But the battle was far from over.

…gives it more weight and can strike a chord with readers. But do it sparingly, because each time you use the same trick, you lessen the effect of the impact.

4. Over-use of exclamation points.
I also tend towards this sometimes while blogging or emailing friends. But I avoid it like the plague when I’m writing a manuscript.

People don’t like to be forced to interpret your narrative words a certain way. They like to read it according to their inner voice. A good narrative should be written in such a way that it trusts your readership to interpret the weight of statements on their own. So that means no adding exclamation points on the end—unless it’s absolutely positively necessary.

5. Italicizing words for impact.
This is another example of something I sometimes do in my casual writing, forums, to sound like a smart-ass, etc, but I’d never everdo it in my manuscripts. Because it can make your writing feel comic-booky, and has this tendency to drive people nuts.

Some writers can get away with it as their style, but using italics to bring the focus on a specific word is you as a narrater putting less faith in your readers to perceive your words correctly. It really goes back to that rule that you need to have faith in your readership. They’ll understand what you mean.

6. Avoiding the word ‘said’.
Some English teachers tell poor defenseless students to never use the word ‘said’. Their reasoning? Because it isn’t interesting enough. Said is boring! Use more interesting words!

Uh-huh.

I’ll tell you this much: A seasoned reader or editor can insta-sense when a manuscript avoids the word ‘said’ on purpose. And that’s a bad thing.

Most of the time, you’ll not be tagging your dialogue at all. But when you need to show the reader who’s talking, please don’t be afraid to use ‘said’.

It’s ‘invisible’; a wonderful word that doesn’t draw attention to itself, letting the reader focus on the actual dialogue instead of the unimportant dialogue tag.
If you think about it, this is yet another example of the narrator telling you exactly how to perceive what was spoken.
Other tags should exist, but be sure you weigh, examine, and question your use of them:

Is this tag redundant? Is it already obvious the character is passionately yelling/inquiring/etc? Does it add more to the narrative? Does it slow things down/draw too much attention away from the conversation?

But don’t completely avoid them, either; that can also come off as amateurish.

7. And, for crying out loud, learn the difference between ‘lose’ and ‘loose’!
This is just a personal pet-peeve of mine. ;) It’s mind-boggling how many otherwise brilliant writers fall into this trap.

“It’s easy to loose track of time while writing…”

sigh…

In Part 3, I’m going to share some of the stylistic choices I’ve made in the past year.