Today, I've decided that it would be good to give some tips to help more advanced writers on how to improve their craft. Now, I'm not going to claim that I'm the best writer or anything, but there are some things that most people have a problem with when moving to the next tier of their writing. Mostly, this is going to have to deal with word choice, so if you have grammar, flow, and plot issues, this may not be the best thing for you at this point.
First, let's look at some words that people use often that weaken their writing. Had is a great example of this, and one that I use all the time with first drafts. Because I write without having any idea where the story is going, worrying about word choice is the last of my worries. Because of that had and have litter everything I write. But, if you look at the sentences, most of those could be cut. It slows down the sentence, and makes it feel a little clunky. Here's and example:
June had pressed her back against the wall, hoping that whatever was downstairs didn’t know she was moving around.
It's not horrible, but if we cut two words, it makes the sentence smoother.
June pressed her back against the wall, hoping whatever was downstairs didn’t know she was moving around.
It makes the sentence more direct, cutting out words that bog it down a little. Put the reader into the action a little more. It doesn't give the quality of reading as much as it give you something a viewing.
Another thing that people always mention is showing when it should be telling. Some of these can be a little tricky, because we know that saying: "June was scared" is telling. But, it telling could also be something along these lines: "electric ran through June's nerves." Now, there can be a combination of showing and telling to get the point across, to be something a little better. If we show and tell to get a sense of fear she is feeling, we can use something like this: "Sweat sprang from June's palms. She swallowed hard, trying to suppress the lump in her throat as well as her fear." Now, that's not the best writing, but it serves for an example. Telling isn't always bad, so long as it is shown first. If you constantly keep showing, it will be too much. Showing something that had been already shown, can be told just as easily, without wearing out the reader.
There's another thing that we all do as well, and that's having a crutch word. These are words that are used over and over again. For me, it changes with each story. Some can be easy, like "just" while others could be harder to find, like "scuttle." I'm sure that just writing this, because I'm not going to edit it, I have a few crutch words. Go ahead and look for them, they have to be there. Now, that's not to say that all of those words aren't useful or needed, if you can write the same sentence with something that isn't using the same verbiage, that's a good thing, so keep an eye out for those things.
Okay, so the last thing that I think I'll go into with this, will be using names or I all the time. And, with this I guess we can also talk about dialogue tags. First person is one of the worst places to find someone always saying I because, well it's first person. But, if your story is filled with I ran, I said, I cried, I shit, whatever, it bogs it down. There are ways to get the same thing done, and you don't need to call attention to who is doing those things, because we know it is the person telling the story. In third person, it makes it a little easier to not keep saying the person's name and what's happening. But that doesn't mean it doesn't happen a lot. It may not be just the person's name, but (s)he along with it. Sometimes it is impossible to not use it, but that's fine. Sometimes you have to use the name, because there are a bunch of people around when you're describing things. i.e. "June ran through the grass, her pants wicking the morning dew as she made her way deeper into the woods." Not too bad, but we can make it better and get it to get rid of at least one of those names and indicators. "Running deeper into the woods, the dew covered grass saturated June's pants."
Not only were we able to cut the "her" but also "morning." It isn't needed because when is the most common time dew forms? The morning is known for having dew on the grass, but also at dusk, so there should be a little more info added around the time. But, that could be done by explaining how the environment is in another sentence. It's all action, and isn't repetitive like saying "ran quickly" because running should be quick. A few other examples of this would be "crept silently" or anything else that uses an adverb after a verb. That's not to say that adverbs are bad, but most aren't needed.
Okay, so the reason I made this was because some of these are problems I've found within my own writing, and figured it would be good to mention it. All these things are common issues, and while they are harder to find in some places, others they stick out like mad. Repetition isn't something I find that often, but it seemed that would be a good place to end. This had been made mostly because it helps me to edit, and also may be helpful for anyone else.