Often prose isn’t putrid, it’s merely weak. We can strenghten it.

From a newsletter in Friday’s mail: “I was flipping through my journal this morning …”

One of the golden rules of good writing is to kill passive voice. Let’s grab ye ol’  hatchet and and see what happens:

“I flipped through my journal this morning ….”

Better? I think so.

Making this change also allows us to turn “flipping” into “flipped.” Get rid of ings in your prose. Your writing will be stronger.

From a blog I enjoy: “What I mean today is that you not only need to be reading books …”

If good writing is tight writing, can we cut words? Yea, verily. Almost half; without losing what she meant.

Try, “You not only need to be reading books …”

Now let’s use our ing lesson:“You not only need to read books …”

We went from 14 words to seven, and the sentence is far stronger.

Think tight. Think active voice. Dump the ings.

Your readers will love ya for it. So will Laura.

Tags: passive voice, strong writing, tight writing, Writing