Advice for Aspiring Writers
Notes on Style
Taste is subjective, and opinions differ about what “good writing” looks like. Most of us have read a bestseller or two and wondered, “How did this thing get published?”
Nevertheless, I would argue that most work does not get published unless it demonstrates a certain level of technical competence. The grammar is correct. The prose is readable. I would further argue that most manuscripts are rejected because the writing is not technically competent. The manuscript never stands a chance because the writer simply doesn’t know the craft of writing well enough.
If you write well, you have already set yourself apart from 99% of what agents and editors see every day.
Below are some notes on what I call “sentence level competence” — the ability to craft prose at the most basic level. These tips reflect the most common problems I’ve observed in unpublished manuscripts.
Sentence-Level Competence
- sentence focus – the subjects of all clauses should be appropriate to the content of the sentence. Favor the concrete over the abstract, the antecedent over the pronoun.
Exercise: go through a page of prose and underline your own subjects. How many are abstract? How many of your sentences are truly focused?
- modifiers – be sure the modifier refers to the right thing. The modifier should refer to the closest noun. Confusing modifiers will trip up the reader, consciously or subconsciously. By the same token, pronouns should have clear antecedents. Always place the modifier as close to the subject as possible.
Exercise: Color-code a page of your manuscript, making each phrase and clause a different color. Match up dependent clauses and phrases with their modifiers. Avoid getting your modifier too far away from the thing being modified.
C. Deft description
Choose your details carefully. A description should be vivid, but surgically precise. The detail must be given for a reason, and have a logical connection to the plot or advancement of character. Avoid long “grocery lists” of details. For a paragraph-length description, offer a uniting theme – an extended metaphor – to give the details cohesion.
Exercise: Go through a chapter and delete all adjectives and adverbs. Read through, then add some back in sparingly. You may find you can do with less than before.
D. parallelism – clauses or phrases that are part of a list should be similar in structure. Unparallel constructions are awkward and difficult to read, even if the reader can’t put her finger on the exact problem.
Exercise: Try constructing your descriptions in parallel units – absolutes, infinitives, adjectives.
