Writers Tricks of the Trade Vol. 5, Issue 4

PRESS “CONTROL” THEN CLICK “BUY” TO PURCHASE THE BOOK TEN WAYS TO UPGRADE YOUR MANUSCRIPT (CONT’D) Example of dash: (From “A Clown in the Trunk” by Maralys Wills) “Never mind all those suitcases stuffed with sweaters and jackets, once again the garb-de-jour was shorts—an Alaska neatly customized for Rob!” Example of Ellipses: “He croaked in a scratchy voice, ‘You’re a . . . whore.’” 4. ADD SENTENCE VARIETY—WITH SHORT . . . OR LONG . . . SENTENCES BUY Don’t get trapped in endless, medium-length sentences. Make some sentences short. One word. Just a few words. Then juxtapose sentence fragments with sentences that are very long and seemingly go on forever, as if the reader had all the time in the world. Pretend he does. 5. USE PREPOSITIONS TO ADD MORE SENTENCE VARIETY  Don’t fall into a repetitious Subject . . . Verb . . . Object pattern. your sentences with prepositions. They add instant variety.  Possible prepositions: “Under” “Over” “From” “Beneath” “Into” “Beyond” “Within” “Besides” “Outside” (There are many others) Try starting Example: “Outside his line of sight, he sensed something threatening had crept closer, that if he didn’t turn around immediately, the thing would leap on top of him.” BUY Prepositions can be chosen arbitrarily. Complex sentences almost always flow from a prepositional start. 6. UPGRADE ALL DIALOGUE  The beauty of being a writer is we have time to make our characters wittier than we are. Or more cutting. Or more concise. Or more brilliant. Or better informed. All characters in books must say interesting things. Nobody can afford to be boring. Good dialogue gets that way by constant upgrading . . . sometimes over and over.  Characters never say the dull, boring things we hear at the grocery store everyday. 7. GET RID OF MOST “AS” SENTENCES  Don’t string your sentences together with “As.” This construction quickly becomes noticeable.  BUY In most “As” sentences, both halves of the sentence are weakened. WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE PAGE 11 JULY-AUGUST 2015

Writers Tricks of the Trade Vol. 5, Issue 4 | Page 22