Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Writing Vividly #MFRWauthor #Writing

When I finish a rough draft of a story and look over what's been written, I know the story needs to be re-written and beefed up. The rough draft is dull and boring. What I need to do is make the writing vivid.  How?

Using the senses in description, character development and plot involving. Sight. sound, touch, taste and smell are ways to bring vivid elements to the story. But this isn't enough.

Finding specific words also helps. You can say car, but the Mercedes, low slung convertible, hybrid, ordinary sedan, coupe are ways to bring the vehicle into view and may also say something about your character. Try this for other words. Not flowers but bold mums, white roses. All these things bring a vivid touch to your story.

Then there are verbs. Try for active ones, not the common ones. Take walk. He walked across the room. He strode across the room. He sidles across the room. All these can make the story come alive.

Forward movement. Lots of long passages of backstory slow the plot and may pull the reader from the story. Use flashbacks in short instances rather than long and the reader will gain information and not be pulled from the current story. At first this can be hard so when you start a flashback that is longer than perhaps a paragraph or two, make sure the reader will want to know this information, not the author. Sometimes we put in information we as writers need to know but the reader only needs this in brief moments.

Substitute action for adverbs. These are often ly ending words. So find a way to describe happily, sadly and angrily. Show the character reacting and the bit becomes vivid.