Identify Elements of Good Diction

The most interesting character facing a significant moral decision in a fast-paced plot and exotic setting will appear bland if the words used are wrong. The vocabulary choices and ways they are arranged to create a sense of style is known as diction. Consider the diction in this passage:

At first, they thought it was an earthquake. But the ground kept shaking and the dust kept rolling into the scarlet sky, and then came the bellowing of a vast herd. They watched the beasts, which looked vaguely like shaggy triceratops, blunder shoulder-to-shoulder some 30 meters wide over the grassy field in a column that would not end.

Notice how the words describing the event create a sense of terror: the ground doesn’t stop shaking, dust is roiling, the sky is a scarlet as opposed to blue, the enormous dinosaur-sized creatures bellow. In fewer than 60 words, the mood is set.

There are many techniques you should keep in mind to improve your writing’s diction. They generally fall into five broad categories:
• Word choice – Every word counts when you’re writing. The wrong words, for example, can leave a fuzzy impression of a character or scene while others are ambiguous, creating confusion about what is meant.
• Tight writing – Sometimes unnecessary words are added to a sentence. The result is that the story slows or the scene grays.
• Syntax – A story is not just a collection of well-written sentences. Those sentences must flow together in a rhythm that effectively creates a mood or tone.
• Active vs. passive voice – Related to word choice and tight writing, the verbs you use either can leave you with a story that purrs like an Indy 500 race car or one that sputters like a junker on concrete blocks.
• Verb tense – Whether you tell the story as if it is unfolding before the reader in the present, as would a stage play, or recount events that occurred in the past, the verb tense you use will alter the pace and the story’s readability.

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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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