As writers, we all want to be noticed….but in the good way. To catch the attention of an agent or publisher, there are a few rules to follow to keep your writing lean and paced according to the market. This article gives you a few hints.

I belong to the
InsaneDames.com
and the Romance Writers of America (RWA). Through these two groups, from reference books and from contests (both entering and judging), I’ve learned many things about writing.

Here is a list of things you can do to make your novel less wordy and speed up the pacing:

1. Take Out Unnecessary “That” Words

   Read more in How To

   « Writing a Strange News Story

   10 Quick Ways to Improve Your Article Writing Skills »

   Extra words that aren’t necessary will slow pacing. When I first began writing, I took out so many “that” words, it was ridiculous. Here’s my rule of thumb for the word “that”. I use Microsoft Word for my editor. If Word doesn’t complain when I remove the word “that” from a sentence, then it was an unnecessary word. It sounds simple, but it works and I don’t have to think very hard, stopping my train of thought.

2. Make Your Grammar and Spelling Correct

   Invest in a book that describes correct grammar and formatting. I’ve seen seasoned writers who don’t know how to format dialogue correctly, or use the right words such as “lose” or “loose” in a sentence.

   Also, make sure you’re using the correct form of the word for your audience. In the United States, for example, putting a final “s” on “-ward” words is incorrect. ‘-ward’ words include words such as toward, upward, downward, backward, forward, afterward, etc., but not including awards and rewards. In many writing contests, you will be marked down for that final “s”. However, in England, it is correct to use that final “s”. So if you’re trying to publish, make sure you find out which spelling is correct for all words in that country.

3. Passive Voice Gets You Nowhere

   Passive voice in writing is considered weak writing. For example, instead of “John took out the trash”, it would be “The trash was taken out by John”, written in passive voice. The first way describes who was taking the trash out, and is in active voice. The second way tells the action first, then by whom.

4. Show, Don’t Tell

   Telling a story is the act of writing by telling the story after the fact, losing the impact of “being in the action” for the reader. Even if there is action, there are no big action words. For example, instead of “the car exploded”, it would make more of an impact on the reader if it were written, “the fiery explosion blasted the silence, throwing thick smoke and flames into the air”. ‘Showing’ is much better writing and will keep the attention of the reader longer.

5. Keep Back-Story to a Minimum

   When I read a story, I don’t want to lose where I am currently in the story. When you introduce back-story, it has to be woven into the story slowly, not in big chunks and never at the beginning of a story. Back-story does have its place, because it will explain some of the character’s actions and motivations. However, big chunks of story that’s happened in the past will appear like flashbacks, and just disrupt the current timeline of a plot. And never, ever, put back-story within a fast-paced section, such as an argument or huge action (like a car chase, for example). You will lose your readers.

6. Start With a Hook, end With a Chapter Hook

   A hook is something to draw the reader into the story. I’ve read books that were written twenty years ago, and there was no hook. They’d start off with a “tell”, a description or even back-story. Today, they’d be laughed out of the publishing industry. The readers of today need more instant gratification. They don’t want to wait for a story to grab them, because there are at least a thousand more books in the same genre on the shelf that will grab them faster.

   So, begin your story with a huge hook — something readers have to answer in their own head. For example, something like, “My husband was dancing in a kitten costume when something loud sliced through the air and came crashing with a thud into our living room. After the dust cleared…” and so on. The reader is saying to himself, “why was the husband dancing in a kitten costume, and what fell into the house? Were they okay? Is the husband an odd duck or what? I wonder how the spandex fit him in the legs? They want to read on. It’s a “hook”.

   The writer wants to do the same thing at the end of the chapter. Readers psychologically put a book down at the end of a chapter. But if there’s a hook, they wouldn’t be able to put the book down, but would have to continue. So, start with a hook and end with a hook for chapters, except for the last chapter. The book should finish with an ending, which may lead to another book, but should satisfy the reader.

7. Dialogue Tags – Use Them Right

   A dialogue tag is the “he said/she said” phrase after someone talks. When you read it aloud, your voice stays “up” until the end of the phrase. For example, the following contains a long dialogue tag: “Come with me,” he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward him. The phrase “he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward him” is called the dialogue tag.

   Using an adverb (that’s an -ly word) in a dialogue tag is considered “taboo”, because a more descriptive word or phrase pulls the reader into your work. For example, if you changed the previous sentence to ““Come with me,” he said angrily.”, you don’t get the same effect as you would with ““Come with me,” he said with his eyes narrowed, his jaw tightened and his face turning red.” I feel more of his anger expressed there. In all your writing, using descriptive words instead of adverbs will make your writing stronger.

   When writing dialogue, use the word “said” more often than “said” synonyms. I know it’s not descriptive, but readers have a tendency to skip over the word “said”, making the pacing faster. If you use “John remarked” instead of “John said”, it takes longer for the reader’s mind to process “remarked”, thus slowing the pacing. And, if you’re writing commercial fiction and not literary works, use “John said” instead of “said John”. Order matters and if it’s wrong, your pacing will be affected.

   On another note, if you have just two people talking, you don’t need dialogue tags for each phrase spoken. Their speech is divided into paragraphs, so you know who’s talking if there are just two people. I put in a dialogue tag about every five exchanges for two people in a conversation. Instead of writing “he said”, I might include action to indicate who’s talking. So, I’d write:

   Kate wrung her hands. “I’m just not sure.”

   Instead of writing,

   “I’m just not sure,” Kate said, wringing her hands.

   Also, if two people are talking, they rarely use each other’s names unless they’re trying to make a point or are angry.

8. Keep the Exclamation Points to a Minimum

   Exclamation points are distracting. People are yelling when they’re written, and it gets tiring if everyone is yelling. So keep them to a minimum. Someone once told me “no more than two exclamation points to a page”. I don’t know if that’s even logical, but it makes me check my exclamation points. I now show their anger or excitement in different ways.

   Watch overusing words such as “extremely”, “very”, “really”, “obviously”, and “actually”. There might be more in your writing, so just be aware of overused words. Also, be careful not to use the same words (nouns, adjectives, etc.) in the same paragraph if possible. For example, “They left the office to head for the newspaper office” has the word “office” twice. They’re supposed to be different offices, making it even more confusing to the reader. If it’s changed to “They left the building to head for the newspaper office”, it gives the sentence more variety.

Good luck with your writing, and keep all references, including internet writing-related websites, close at hand. You want your choice of words to make your fiction shine.