In Today’s Journal * Chapter 6, Part 3 * Chapter 7 * Of Interest Other Misuses That Are Easy to Fix Likely: Despite its widespread misuse because it sounds cool and despite the “ly” on the end of it, “likely” is primarily an adjective, not an adverb. “Likely” is synonymous with “probable,” not “probably.” I cringe every time a weather guy says “It likely will rain tonight.” (Note: Yes, I’m aware that some dictionaries define “likely” as both an adjective and an adverb, so do what you want. But “probably” is sitting right there, so why risk annoying the reader?) … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Chapter 6, Part 2 * Of Interest Sat or Stood Sat and stood are misused almost as often as the verb “gave.” If the character’s changing her physical orientation, of course, this is no problem. If she was lying down or sitting, it’s fine to say “she stood.” If she was lying down or standing, it’s fine to say “she sat.” But don’t allow the narrator to say the character stood unless she was lying down or sitting, or that she sat unless she was lying down or standing. This error most often happens when the … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Chapter 6, Part 1 * Of Interest Throw-Away Verbs and Phrases and Other Glitches I need to preface this chapter with a reminder. In fact, this is the whole chapter compressed into a single sentence: Your personal preferences as a reader have zero bearing on what you should or shouldn’t do as a writer. I mention that because a “prolific” (2 novels per year) professional romance writer once commented publicly in a forum for writers that she “doesn’t mind passages” like “Her fingers flew to her cheeks” or “His eyes shot across the room” or “He … Read more

In Today’s Journal * The Bradbury Challenge Report * One Update on Chapter 5 * Of Interest The Bradbury Challenge Report Participating in any challenge is a great way to have fun and grow as a writer. The requirement is to write at least one short story per week, then let me know the title, word count, and genre per the format below. During the past week, the following writers wrote these new stories: Erin Donoho “A Country Respite” 800 historical sketch Balázs Jámbor “Without” 3842 Thriller Vanessa V. Kilmer “Still. Life.” 3157 fantasy Christopher Ridge “The Memory Photo” 1827 … Read more

In Today’s Journal * A Brief Intermission * For Recent Subscribers * Of Interest A Brief Intermission Behind the scenes, I’ve been writing and compiling the Author Intrusion book each day. Where I’ve used previously published material, I’ve updated it so longtime subscribers will get the value of a reminder plus some new information. Then I broke the longer chapters into two or three posts before posting them. But no doubt you’ve noticed the posts have been coming into your inbox pretty much day after day after relentless day. Today I thought I’d give you a break so I can ‘splain … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Chapter 5, Part 3: These Are Not Tag Line Verbs Again, picking up where we left off yesterday…. These Are Not Tag Line Verbs First, here’s a short list of verbs that indicate a form of utterance. To “hear” these in tag lines, insert He or She in front of each verb as you read them: Announced, answered, asked, called, called out, exclaimed, implored, mumbled, murmured, muttered, quipped, remarked, responded, said, screamed, stammered, stated, uttered, and yelled. Again, these are all transitive verbs, so for the tag line to make sense it must be attached to … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Chapter 5, Part 2 Picking up where we left off yesterday, Tag lines do not stand on their own. The tag line—which consists only of the character’s name or the appropriate pronoun (he or she) and a verb that indicates a form of utterance—is neither a complete sentence nor an independent clause. Any verb that indicates a form of utterance is a transitive verb, which means it has to act on an object in order to make sense. In the case of a tag line, the object is the line of dialogue. So in other words, … Read more

In Today’s Journal * My Quote of the Day * Chapter 5, Part 1 Chapter 5: Abusing Tag Lines and Brief Descriptive Narratives First, to avoid any confusion, when I say “tag lines” that’s what some writers call “dialogue tags.” And when I say “brief descriptive narratives” that’s what some writers call “action beats.” Both tag lines and brief descriptive narratives serve a particular purpose, and both are adjacent to one or more lines of dialogue spoken by a single character. But tag lines and brief descriptive narratives are not the same thing. Attributes: The Tag Line… exists only to … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Chapter 4, Part 2 * Of Interest Chapter 4, Part 2 Human Parts Do Not Have Human Traits (continued) Here’s one of my favorite examples of giving human traits to human parts. This one’s a little different: The baron’s eyes raked across everyone at the table. No, they didn’t. Eyes can’t do that. You can’t fix this one by simply writing, “The baron raked his eyes across everyone at the table.” Maybe try something like this: The baron scanned the table, or The baron looked (glared, etc.) at those seated at the table, or even The … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Chapter 4: Human Parts Do Not Have Human Traits Chapter 4: Human Parts Do Not Have Human Traits I said early on that becoming aware of the problems and mistakes I’ve listed in this book will improve your writing. Once most writers become aware of the problems in this particular chapter, they will easily spot and correct them. In fact, you’ll almost trip over them as you’re writing. As a result, these problems will almost magically disappear from your work. Human Parts Do Not Have Human Traits Several years ago, I received an email from a … Read more