Here’s the fourth episode of the Writing Talk Podcast.
As writers we’re all guilty at times of being heavy-handed. But what do we mean by being heavy-handed and what can we do about it to make our writing tighter and more effective?
It’s very easy to fall into the trap of using overtly literary language and this often leads us into dragging up cliched and hackneyed phrases. So are these phrases really needed, or are they just flabby prose that gets in the way of the story?
I hope you enjoy listening.
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Action Points
Use global searches to identify over-used “writerly phrases”
Eliminate them right now. Your text will be leaner and more effective and you’ll feel better.
Write several very short piece of flash fiction
Try and write a satisfying little tale in as few as 100 words. Suggest progression as effectively as possible. Avoid giving just a vignette. Tell us a story with a message rather than just displaying a slice of life.
Links to Writing Resources:
The Emotion Thesaurus – an invaluable time-saver. Click on the cover image to visit Amazon.com:
If you haven’t found these yet, here are the NaNoWriMo sponsor offers and you can take advantage of them even if you aren’t taking part in nanowrimo this year:
http://nanowrimo.org/sponsor-offers
Scrivener
The 30 day free trial is perfect for NaNoWriMo
Both are affiliate links – they don’t cost you anything at all but I get a reward from the company to help pay for the podcast hosting.
Questions
Do you have any advice to share on how to avoid heavy-handed writing?
Also, just for fun, can you suggest an interesting way to say someone raised their hands in surrender?
Please answer in the comments below:
An alternate for “he held his hands up in surrender”? Hmm, yeah that’s a tough one. How about something like this?
Original: Frank held us hands up in surrender. “Alright, have it your way.”
Alternative #1: Frank conceded the point with upraised hands. “Alright, have it your way.”
Alternative #2: Frank raised his hands in defeat. “Alright, have it your way.”
btw, thanks for the tip on The Emotion Thesaurus! I think half my time is spent trying to find the right words or phrase, and that will help a lot. Gonna go buy it right now.
Thanks again Stephen. Hope the thesaurus was useful.