Wordsmithing

Friday, 19 August 2011

I've been learning from the Plain English Guidelines

The problems of unclear writing
Choosing an appropriate style for the audience
Different writing styles
Suggestions for clear writing
Active and passive verbs
Getting rid of redundant words
Shortening sentences
Making sentences positive instead of negative
Revealing hidden verbs

4 comments:

The Happy Whisk19 August 2011 at 17:06
Hard to read right now with those checkers across the words. Hope you have a groovy weekend.

Cheers.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Unknown20 August 2011 at 16:13
Thanks Ivy. I'll check it on a different computer :)
ReplyDelete
Replies
Jemi Fraser21 August 2011 at 01:56
I'm working on getting rid of those redundant words and phrases right now! Fun stuff :)
ReplyDelete
Replies
Unknown21 August 2011 at 21:49
Hi Jemi
There is nothing like hunting down individual words to give a writer headache ;) Good luck with the editing.
ReplyDelete
Replies

RETURN: YA Paranormal Romance

I was running late. But, it was nothing I couldn’t make up with a bit of effort. I shook my head. Confident and happy? I smiled. Increasing my stride, I pushed until the muscles in my legs burned. I kept up the pace even when the hill grew steeper.

Magpie Lane was hardly wider than a ribbon that edged the woods but that didn’t stop traffic using it to get to the motorway quicker. Large trucks and fast cars loved Magpie Lane. They sent vibrations running through me rising from the soles of my trainers. I felt the disturbance in the ground, even before the air pressure tried to knock me off balance. I hunched my shoulders as the cab hauling a container spat stones up at me.

Jogging on the spot, at the entrance to woodland, I ached to leave the road and go inside. My Mum was probably still asleep but I could hear her you-never-know-what might-be-in-there lecture buzzing on repeat inside my head. I should run safe. Not even I would argue that running through the woods on my own was the best definition of safe but I wanted to run-wild and the woodland offered me that. This early, I should be safe from axe murderers or perverts in the trees and besides, I was fast.

I jogged down the slope into the trees. From two paces in, I felt different. Freer. It felt so right. Running in the woods did great things for my style. Avoiding the roots and dodging branches forced my stride longer, I had to step higher. The woodland, The Weald, was only a sliver of ancient woodland that the developers forgot to build on but it felt like it could have been anywhere. Everywhere. At any time. The oaks and beech trees dominated the space and the skinny, silver-birches squeezed up beside them. I laughed. For a second, the woods reminded me of school and I needed to run a lot faster.

Pages

Friday, 19 August 2011

4 comments: