I Read, I Write

Style

Cultivate a simple style.
Use forceful verbs instead of adjetives and adverbs.
Use words that paint a picture by describing things the reader can hear and feel, taste, touch, and smell. Example: sand dunes etched by the wind.
The use of resemblence will give your writing power and make it engaging.

Metaphor: an implied comparison Example: He had a heart of stone.

Simile: an expressed comparison or simularity between two different things or ideas using the word like.

Onomatopoeia: the technique of forming nsmes or words by imitating the sound associated with the thing designated.

Alliteration: repeating the same first sound in a group of wo0rds or line of poetry. Don’t overdo it.

Watch antecendents of pronouns. Make sure the pronoun agrees with its anticendents in number and gender. Who actually did what?

Use fewer words. Boil down rambling phrases to a single shot.

Use variety in your vocabulary. Edit out of your final draft trite expressions that weaken your point. Drop the adverb very from your vocabulary. Replace ordinary or weak words with stimulating new ones. Make sure they say precisely what you want them to say.

Use contractions.

Be personable. Avoid the use of must and should.

Get rid of gobblegook.  (mental drunkeness)  Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Use active voice: You can usually turn a passive sentence end to end to make it active. The difference between saying, “Thes notes were made by Allison Kohn,” and, “Allison Kohn made these notes.”

Polish your lead.  
Introgative lead
Shocking statement lead
Anecdotal lead
Declarative lead
Bizarre lead
Suspenseful lead