Language

How to Entertain Readers with Your Words

Today’s post is written by Frederick Fuller. Thanks, Frederick! In Anatole France’s story The Juggler of Notre Dame, Barnabé, the juggler, performs before the altar of the Virgin Mary as his gift to the Holy Mother. He offers to the Holy Mother all he has, from what he is, a juggler. And the astonished Prior

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How Cliched Is Your Writing? Take the Test

We’ve all heard the expression, “That’s so cliche!” But what does it really mean, and can it mean more than one thing? A cliche can be described as: A trite or overused expression or idea ~The Free Dictionary A hackneyed theme, characterization or situation ~Merriam-Webster Dictionary Something that has become overly familiar or commonplace ~Merriam-Webster Dictionary A person

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Are These Filter Words Weakening Your Fiction?

After taking several weeks away from the first draft of my novel, I decided to jump back in. I expected to find all sorts of problems with the story: inconsistencies in the plot, lack of transitions, poor characterization—the works. But what began to stick out at me the most was something to which I’d given

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5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Vocabulary

Your words are the most important tools you have as a writer. That’s the reason one of your goals this year might be to expand your vocabulary. You want to learn a greater number of words, and also how to use words you hear often, but aren’t sure of their proper contexts. Sounds like a

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Serial Comma Drama: Which Side Are You On?

All through school, I was taught that when one writes a list, no comma is needed after the second last item. For example: Please get milk, eggs, butter, bread, sugar and salt from the grocery store. As far as I knew, a comma would have been unnecessary after the word sugar. Now, I’m not so

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Cut Your Words: 5 Articles on Concise Writing

I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil .~Truman Capote We writers are constantly challenged to find the right words–to be descriptive, but not verbose. To make our language leap from the page, but at the same time, control our word choice. One of the easiest ways to clean up your

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