Are you looking for ways to make your writing sound more professional? If yes, then there are some tips and tricks that can help with giving your writing that extra edge along with the extra sense of professionalism, which will prove helpful later when you write your query letter or wherever you try to get your story seen.
It is important to mention that there is a wide variety of writing styles out there, which means that you might have to go against one of the tips and tricks that we have mentioned below, as you might want to create a specific effect.
Avoid Complex Sentences
The first tip is to avoid complex sentences. The thing is that long and more complex sentences are something that you might consciously choose to do for a stylistic effect. You might as well use it to break the monotony of your writing, as you might want to include something that has different lengths and structures so that your writing doesn’t become monotonous or repetitive.
However, when you unnecessarily use complex sentences, it actually slows down the reading process. If you are new to the writing journey, you might want to develop a better understanding of how many sentences are in a paragraph and which aspects of writing boost readability.
Simply put, when you use complex sentences, the reader has a harder time understanding what you want to say. Complex sentences can also make the action feel more distant.
Remove Filtering
The next tip that can immensely improve your writing is to remove filtering. This aspect happens when the story is filtered through the POV character. In such a situation, the experience of a character emphasizes the reader, which is not the intent of the writer but more of its impact.
Filtering typically involves more of the following words:
- Thought
- Knew
- Saw
- Smelled
- Said
- Felt
You get the point – these words create a sense of separation between the sensory experience and the reader. For example, the sentence “William saw the tail of a fox sticking out behind the tree: has a more distancing effect for the readers compared to the sentence “The tail of the box stuck out from behind the tree.”
By removing the filtering words, you can create a much more immersive experience for the readers. It would be possible if you could eliminate as much filtering as possible, as it could make it a great way for your readers to immerse themselves in the story immediately rather than watching everything unfold from a distance.
Choose Words to Set the Tone
Now, when you are writing, you have the option of choosing from a variety of words that mean basically the same thing that you are trying to say. However, different words can establish different connotations and evoke different kinds of moods.
On that note, by choosing the right words, you can massively improve the overall tone and vibe of your writing. A similar applies to the use of similes. You should be thoughtful about the words that you are choosing and the impact that those words have on the vibe that you intend to create with those words.
Avoid Writing in Passive Voice
You might have heard this one before in the writing community that you should avoid passive voice. Sometimes, it can be a little tricky to understand what this aspect means fully. But – to make it as simple as possible, you should know that passive voice is when the subject or clause of a sentence receives the action instead of performing it.
So, while writing sentences, if you struggle with whether a sentence is an active or passive voice, you should think about whether the subject is performing the action or not. If not, then it is a passive voice. For instance, in the sentence “The mug was held by Susanne,” Susanne is receiving the action instead of performing it. Hence, the sentence is a passive voice.
Now, to transform this sentence into an active voice, you should write “Susanne held the mug” and make Susanne perform the action.
The reason why you should use active voice over the passive voice in your sentence is that it will make your writing feel stronger. Throughout your writing journey, there will be instances where you will prefer passive voice, such as with the intention of creating distance.
Don’t Make Body Parts Take Action
Speaking of passive and active voice, you should avoid body parts taking action. Sometimes, the way sentences are written, the body part of a character is given the action rather than the character themselves doing the action.
For instance, in the sentence “Her hand plucked the flower,” the hand does the action, whereas in the sentence “She plucked the flower,” the character performs the action. If the body parts perform an action, it just creates unnecessary distance, which is something you should avoid to improve your writing.
Be Mindful of the Sentence Length
As a writer, you can control the pace of the narrative of your book with sentence length. On that note, you should know that it is not only word choices that can help with setting the tone or the mood of the narrative. It is also the length of the sentences that can go a long way toward setting the mood or tone of a scene.
For instance, in most cases, if the characters are being thoughtful or maybe they feel distant from something that occurred within the story, in this case, longer sentences can work better as these can more effectively communicate the tone of the story.
On the other hand, if the characters are involved in an intense or emotional situation, even action or urgency – all of this can be conveyed with shorter and choppier sentences. If you look at things, you will see that by incorporating the right sentence lengths, you can effectively use them to set the desired pace in which you want the readers to read the book. The sentence length can help to set the right tone, which is according to the situation of the narrative.