Clean Up Your Writing: Part I of Writing For Publication
By Anne Haw Holt

1 Make sure your language flow is not stilted, awkward or too formal.  Read your work aloud and make sure your sentences and dialogue sound real.

2 Do not use the passive tense.  Ask yourself if the subject is being acted upon rather than acting.  The passive tense is a form of telling rather than showing.

3 Remove as many forms of the verb "to be" as you can, replace them with action verbs.

4 Avoid using the same sentence constructions over and over. Watch for and change singsong constructions where your sentences have the same word order, the same subject and the same length.

5 Don't repeat key words or even names within a paragraph. Find other verbs, adjectives or adverbs.

6 Search for and remove extra words resulting in convoluted, run-on sentences.  Some of the worst culprits are that, which, when, and because. Two words that mark a writer as an amateur are very and just.  Do a search and remove them.
 
7 Do a search for the words and, but, or when used to introduce subordinate clauses.  Remove them and make the two clauses they joined into two separate sentences.

8 Use simple sentence construction.  Find and use succinct, singular adjectives rather than modifying clauses.
 
9 Don't become a victim of the Thesaurus Syndrome.  Never use an adjective or adverb unless it is the only way to make your meaning clear.  Think of an adverb a crutch and an adjective a wheelchair for a weak verb.

10 Be careful of misplaced and confusing modifiers whether they are adjectives, adverbs, phases or clauses.

11 Make sure that your changes in verb tense are consistent with your point of view and the mood of your story.  Check every sentence and every paragraph of the entire piece.

12 Make sure a description of the motivation for an action or effect occurs before you introduce the reaction. Don't confuse your reader.

Copyright 2004 Anne Haw Holt. All Rights Reserved.

Anne Haw Holt is the author of "CLEAN UP YOUR WRITING, Part I of Writing for Publication" Anne is a novelist And teaches writing and grant writing.  She also speaks to schools, conferences and groups. Visit her site to learn more http://www.ahholt.com