If your story reads a little vanilla, the problem likely comes down to poor craftsmanship. You need to add flavor to your writing with your word choice and sentence structure. Here are six ways of doing that (click the linked title for the full article):
• Liven up your writing: Replace overused verbs
Even when using active verbs, sentences still may sound flat. More than likely, those active verbs are also overused.
• Give your writing class with appropriate diction
A sign of true craftsmanship for a writer is when he selects the right words and arranges them in an evocative way. The vocabulary choices and ways they are arranged to create a sense of style is known as diction.
• Eschew cliches like a toxic waste dump
A quick way to strengthen your writing is to replace (or just avoid altogether) overused expressions and phrases. Such expressions and phrases are known as clichés.
• Starting sentences with “it”
Avoid starting sentences – and especially paragraphs – with “it.” By starting a sentence with “it,” you can confuse the reader. After all, what exactly does “it” refer to?
• Improve writing’s texture by avoiding repetition
One of the quickest ways to ruin a story’s texture is to repeat the same word between sentences and paragraphs.
• Give your story oomph! with narrative drive
Narrative drive is the force that makes a reader feel that something is about to happen. The more powerful your narrative drive, the less likely the reader is to put down the story.
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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.
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