Good Advice

I got a package from my dear sister, Mary, the other day. It had some face masks, a couple of books to sign for my nephew, and a folder of mine from my elementary school days. In it were a few things from back in the day, so I had to look. All good, cute stuff, let me assure you. 

The best thing in that small collection was from what I believe was 4th grade Fred. 

Boy, that's good advice! Little did I know that years later I'd tell myself much of that same stuff. 

1- Look for repeated words- it's true, there are options when choosing words for writing a story. One of my beta readers still pokes fun at me for overuse of the word "grim." As in, "his face was grim." With her help, that became "concerned" or "stark" or even, "dour." Maybe not words I use in everyday conversation, but word choice is part of what makes writing special.

2- Look for words that aren't needed- this isn't 4th grade where I'm trying to reach my 250-word minimum, this is free-flowing where I'm looking for impact with each word. Sometimes less is more. It's not a big, giant, angry, loud, terrifying bear, it's an enormous snarling bear. Not only is it shorter, by choosing better words, it's a better description. 

3- Reread and change five words- always a good exercise. When I rewrite my stuff, I look for better ways to say things. I suspect every writer does and I know that beta-readers and editors certainly do. But sometimes it's very difficult to find the right word. Exercises like forcing oneself to change five (or however many) words are good in that the mundane work can generate better thoughts and product. 

I acknowledge how much easier some of this is today than it was circa 1978. I'm a big fan now of Merriam-Webster.com, Grammarly.com, and the whole internet in general. Is something simply "blue"? Not anymore! With the help of the internet, it can be navy, periwinkle, teal, sapphire, dark, Egyptian, cerulean, baby, powder, or even Space Cadet blue. I'm not even sure what Space Cadet blue is, but by golly if I think it will help my story I'm going to learn more about it!

Still, there is no substitute for real people. None of those programs can catch the errors that people can. Nor can they make suggestions, gentle or brutal, to me about something. Above all, computers don't have feelings, and evoking emotional reactions is what writing is all about. All of the technology in the world can't make a reader feel emotion. I call that job security.

PS- I still love WWII planes!