Dead Giveaways You’re Still Learning How to Write
4 Quick writing tips that stuck with me from earning my BA in English
The handle of the secret door turned as I stepped into a tiny, forbidden room. A faded piece of parchment sat on the lone table. On the paper was written “Make your first paragraph and first line, absolutely captivating!” Human are curious, create an interesting hook and hook us! If your first words don’t create curiosity and interest-bye bye reader.
Hunt down all the adverbs and kill them. This was advice from several of my professors. They must have encountered too many in their vast marking of essay assignments. I use them sparingly (did you see that one?). As a reader, we want you to give us a description of the action or verb. An adverb modifies or describes the verb. Just don’t use a long string of them. Sprinkle in just enough to get our imagination going, our mind will create a vision of what you are discussing, give the reader a little room to do that and custom tailor their vision of your ideas.
Always skip superlatives. This got to be a fun joke in several of my English classes. When a student would answer a question and inevitably speak faster than they were thinking, a superlative would slip out and several other students in the class would jump in. For example, a student might state, “Jane Austin never gives men credit.” and about three other students would say in unintentional unison “Never?”. Go ahead fast talking student, defend that, we’re listening. It is the literary generalzation of just about anything and the truth is that there are exceptions and superlatives are rather final. You will box yourself in with the use of surplatives, so be careful!
So many writers use phrases like “I think” or “In my opinion” of course it’s what you think, you are the author. It’s a given that you are writing down your opinion and in that writing you will share precisely your opinion. When you use these phrases in your writing, it undermines your confidence and your authority. If you have confidence in yourself and your opinions, you can just state the opinion and forget the fluff.
I earned my Bachelor of Arts in English Literature & Language at the University Of Windsor in 2010. Okay, those are my four fastest tips to improve your writing right away! Enjoy!
