Kathryn Lance - Writing Tips

I have learned the following writing tips and techniques over the years, some from mentors and others from experience. The examples are mostly taken from handouts I've given my students in various writing classes at the Writing Works Center at the Extended University of the University of Arizona.

The concept of "less is more" has to do with showing (dramatizing) rather than telling (summarizing). It also has to do with trusting yourself and your reader. In other words, you only need to make your point once-you needn't beat the reader over the head with it. Also, as a rule, the fewer the adjectives and adverbs you use, the more powerful your writing. The trick is in choosing the one or two best modifiers.

The same point can be made in a way that is easier to read and less obtrusive by getting rid of some of the indicators of anger:

Look at the following passages, and figure out how to make them stronger by using fewer words. Click to see one possible way to modify each.

Bear in mind that the context usually gives plenty of hints and details about what is going on. For example, in Passage A, we would know it is a love scene. In Passage C, we probably already know how he feels about the people he will "make pay"-and what he feels they have done to him.

I learned this from Robert Cenedella, my mentor, who was head writer on a soap opera when I first knew him. The rule is simple: Never have one character tell another something they both already know.

I call it The Soap Opera Rule, because it's often broken on soap operas, but you see it all the time, in novels, stories, movies and nighttime tv shows. When the rule is broken, it looks something like this:

Well, okay, they aren't usually this bad. But some come close.

The problem here is that the writer needs to insert a lot of background information into the script (or novel, or whatever). But there are lots of better, more natural ways to do it. One way would be for Chet to think about some of the facts during his conversation with Roger:

Looking at his friend's gaunt face, Chet couldn't help feeling sorry for Roger. All that work getting the PhD in astrophysics, all the training he and Camille had gone through, and then she had the bad luck to get leprosy.

"We're all sorry you won't be going on the mission, Roger," he said.

"Yeah, sure," Roger said. "If you're all so sorry, then why was I kicked off the project?"

Chet didn't answer for a moment. Roger had been so touchy since Camille had died. "I don't know," he said finally. "Rotten luck all the way around."

Alternatively, you could have Chet discuss the situation with someone who doesn't know about Roger's situation, or put in a flashback, or drop the pieces of information bit by bit in other scenes.

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A. Her eyes filled with tears of joy. "Oh, Michael," she breathed softly, her face full of love. "it's... it's beautiful," she added, her voice trembling with emotion. Never had she felt such love.

Her eyes filled. "Oh, Michael," she breathed. "it's beautiful."

B. "Leave me alone!" she screamed, sobbing hysterically.

"Leave me alone!" she sobbed.

C. A sense of power surged strongly through him and he raised his fist in the air, pumping it three times. "Yes!" he cried. He would make all the small, petty little people cringe and pay for what they had done to him.

A sense of power surged through him and he raised his fist. "Yes!" he cried. He would make them all pay.