My brain is entrenched in math and science.  I prefer a world controlled by laws and formulas that clearly define how the variables and parameters interact. Over the years I have collected a variety of rules defining good writing. Some are mine, but most were plagiarized from an eclectic range of writing resources. The first two rules are the most important. The first rule defines writing as an art form. The second rule summarizes all the other rules. I hope you find these helpful in your writings.

Avoid nominalizations.  A nominalization is a verb used as a noun or changed to a noun form. Verbs outrank nouns and are preferable.

 

Good: It was now a race against time.

Better: They were now racing against time.

 

In the first sentence, race is used as a noun. The only action in the sentence is was. There is minimal sense of urgency. In the second sentence, the verb is racing, which suggests urgency. Both sentences convey the same information.

 

Good: It was cheaper than the ten-mile drive to town.

Better: It was cheaper than driving ten miles into town.

 

Good: The FBI conducted an investigation into the kidnapping.

Better: The FBI investigated the kidnapping.

Don't use more than two adjectives per noun.

 

Poor: He worked the fields under the hot, red, blazing sun.

Good: He worked the fields under the hot, blazing sun.

Better: He worked the fields under the hot sun.

Use the most specific noun. Specific nouns convey more information per word. The second reference to the noun can be changed to a pronoun.

 

Good: A man jumped into his car and raced into town.

Better: John jumped into his Corvette and raced into Marquette.

Avoid empty adverbs. Some adverbs (just, even, that, only, surely, though, most, much, little, always, also, some, then, any, still, very) provide minimal information and should be avoided. When in doubt—leave it out.

 

Good: You can answer verbally, or even just nod your head.

Better: You can answer verbally, or nod your head.

 

Good: I believe that John will win the race.

Better: I believe John will win the race.

Do not use more than three prepositional phrases in a row. Two or fewer is preferred.

 

Good: Jill lives in the house on the hill by the creek at the end of the road.

Better: Jill lives in the house at the end of the road.

Change prepositional phrases to possessive nouns or pronouns when possible. Nouns and pronouns outrank prepositions.

 

Good: The car of mine is red.

Better: My car is red.

 

Good: The opinion of the committee was favorable.

Better: The committee's opinion was favorable.

Change prepositional phrases to adjectives when possible. Adjectives outrank prepositions.

 

Good: The castle of stone was impregnable.

Better: The stone castle was impregnable.

Avoid double prepositions.

Good: John decided to drive on down the road until he found a motel.

Better: John decided to drive down the road until he found a motel.

 

Good: He fell off of the ladder.

Better: He fell off the ladder.

When possible, replace multiple words with single words. Often one word can do the work of several words. That word is stronger. There is no formula or rule for finding these choice words. A good vocabulary helps. Sometimes they come to mind after the writing has aged for a few weeks.

 

Good: While Bob admitted to himself the unlikelihood that they would ever find the treasure, he would not give up.

Better: While Bob considered it unlikely they would find the treasure, he would not quit.

 

Good: It took a moment or two before she became aware of what had happened.

Better: It took a moment or two before she realized what had happened.

 

Good: I'll stick around until they get here.

Better: I'll stick around until they arrive.

Show, don't tell. This mantra is heard whenever fiction writing is discussed, but is frequently ignored by the best writers. Instead of telling the reader how a character feels, show the reader how the character feels by having him react to his situation.

 

Telling: John found the bloated body that had washed up on the beach revolting. It was a mental picture he would never forget.

 

Showing: John looked at the bloated body washed up against the beach and had to swallow hard to prevent bile from reaching his throat. In one eye socket, maggots crawled over each other in search of choice morsels of flesh. The other eye appeared glazed, but still stared up at him. John wondered if the body's soul could see him. The smell of rotting flesh filled his nostrils, and he was no longer able to suppress the bile.

Avoid passive sentences. A normal sentence has an agent, an action, and an object in that order.

 

Active sentence: Bob (agent) hit (action) the ball (object) over the fence.

Passive sentence: The ball (object) was hit (action) over the fence by Bob (agent.)

Passive sentence: The ball (object) was hit (action) over the fence (no agent.)

 

Readers prefer action, and there is always more action when the hero is doing the beating instead of being beaten on. The following forms of the verb prepared are passive:

is prepared

is being prepared

was prepared

was being prepared

has been prepared

had been prepared

will be prepared

is going to be prepared

Avoid stand-alone to be verbs. These are another form of passive sentences that convey no action.

 

Passive: The house was red.

Passive: The house was on a hillside overlooking the city.

Active: The red house sat on a hillside overlooking the city.

 

In the active sentence, red is converted to an adjective in front of house, and the passive verb is changed to the active verb sat. The two passive sentences have been combined, saving three words, which increases the writing pace.

Avoid adverbs and adverbial phrases with dialogue tags: Same logic as Rule #23. If you need to write, "Bob said angrily," your dialogue lacks strength. For those rare occasions when dialogue isn't enough, show don't tell.

 

Tell: "Leave me alone," Jim said, with anger.

Show: "Leave me alone." Jim slammed his fist on the table.

All dialogue must advance the story. Real dialogue is often frivolous, but has no place in fiction.

Frivolous dialogue:

"Nice car," Bob said.
"I like it," Joe relied.
"Do you get good mileage?" Bob asked.
"Not bad," Joe said.
"I like red," Bob said.

This dialogue is realistic and could occur in real life, but it fails to add to any story. It is filler that slows the story’s pace.

Keep dialogue simple. People talk in incomplete sentences. They don't converse in phrases or other complex forms seen in writing.

 

Unrealistic: "We're missing something important, a simple fact, a piece of trivia, something that should be obvious," Bill said.

Use dialogue tags only when needed. The only purpose of a dialogue tag is to identify the speaker. Usually, the reader knows who the speaker is and the tag is unnecessary.

The dialogue below was taken from my novel, Super Mensa. Ana has escaped from the Spaniard and was attacked by wolves. The dialogue is between Ana and the Spaniard after she has been recaptured.

1.  "Your precious employer almost got a dead hostage. A wolf pack thought I would make a good buffet."
2.  "I must apologize for the first night. There's strength in numbers. The wolves would've never taken on the three of us. You didn't tell me you were taking off on your own."
3.   "And the second night?"
4.   "I gave the leader of the pack an attitude adjustment with the Tasor, the same one I used at the beach. The wolves now have a healthy respect for humans."
5.   "Did you kill him?"
6.   "No. We dragged him off by the tail. Let the rest of the pack watch. Puts the fear of God in them. He'll be in a daze for twelve hours or so, but he'll recover. No sense killing him. He was only doing what wolves do."
7.   "You spared him out of professional courtesy?"
8.   "In a matter of speaking." The Spaniard threw Ana an MRE.
9.   "Thanks."
10. "Don't thank me. It's your MRE."
11. "No, I mean for sparing the wolf."
12. "Ana, you're a very complex woman."

No dialogue tags are used in the above dialogue. Line #1: The reader knows who was attacked by wolves. Line #2: The reader knows the speaker is the hostage taker. Line #3: There is no identifier, but a new paragraph tells the reader that the dialogue has changed to a new speaker. Line #8: The paragraph has an action sentence from the Spaniard's point of view, which identifies the speaker. If this technique is used, the action sentence cannot solely identify the speaker; it must also move the story forward. No useless sentences allowed. Line #12: Ana is addressed by name; therefore, the Spaniard has to be the speaker.

Avoid similar sounding names. If you name two characters Sheila and Shelly, your readers will be continuously asking, "Which character is Shelly?"

Avoid names that are difficult to pronounce. Readers hate tongue twisters. They don't want to feel like they are reading the Old Testament.

Keep the sentence structure simple. Let the nouns and verbs tell the story.

Keep the writing compact without frivolous words.

When in doubt—cut it out.

The three most important aspects of writing are re-write, re-write, re-write.