Continuous Improvement.

As a writer, you should also be striving for continuous improvement. I know I do. Even best-selling authors are very likely trying to write better all the time. If they don't, they won't stay best-selling very long (this is, I think what happened to Tom Clancy; he got lazy).
For example, after my first couple of novels were published ( Hammer of Thor and Agent of Artifice ), just for fun I went to this word cloud website and made word clouds from the edited manuscripts. And here's what I found:


Then my writers' group told me I should avoid adverbs. So I do that, too.
Lately I'm on a mission to avoid the word "seemed" because I have noticed I use it way too much. I don't have to say "The room seemed charged with her power" (a line from Gods of Strife ) but "The room was charged with her power."
If you aren't striving to improve you're writing (and I don't care how many books you've sold) you aren't going to get better. And all the writers who are working hard to improve their writing are going to be a better writer than you. And you'll be left in the dust.
Published on July 07, 2014 05:00
No comments have been added yet.