How to Get Published

by Al Kalar

Good writers get all they can out of a verb.

For instance, when a character moves from one place to another in a scene, he doesn’t “move across the room”. He “plunges”, “saunters”, “minces”, “charges”, “slinks”, etc. across the room.

Let’s look at an example:

Jim moved over to Henry and hit him in the face.

[yawn]

Jim charged Henry and smashed a fist into his face.

So, what happened to Henry?

Henry fell to the floor. His nose was bleeding.

[Wake me when it's over]

Henry crashed to the floor, blood flowing from his mangled nose.

Remember to review your verbs when you edit your own work. Not just action verbs, but any verb. Victims aren’t afraid, they “quake”; their knees shake, their stomachs churn, and their bowls threaten to disgrace them.

Your thesaurus (often built into your word processor) can be a good friend, but your mind and a command of a wide range of verbs are your main weapons.

by John Bowers

No matter what genre you prefer, the best novels (unless they are comedies) have one thing in common: drama.

To write drama, you must be dramatic.  To be dramatic, you must use exactly the right words, every time. As I said in my last article, anyone can string subjects and verbs together, but to be remembered, your writing must be memorable.  Nothing is more memorable (in my opinion, anyway) than drama.

The Right Words

I have two favorite kinds of drama: personal relationships and action.  Today we’ll talk about action, since it’s the easier of the two and easily the most fun to write. (more…)