Writers Need to Stay Active
If you’ve cruised through Facebook, Instagram or other social media, you have probably seen a declaration along the lines of: “Writing has never been easier!”
That always makes me scoff: “If it were that easy, everyone would be doing it.” Which they aren’t.
At least, not with the style and skill required to turn mere words into captivating copy that makes potential readers part with their hard-earned dollars (or cryptocurrency).
After all, there’s a reason that most self-published books never sell more than 100 copies. One is a limited market, composed primarily of family members, friends, and a few coworkers. The other is quality, which is seriously lacking in the majority of self-published books I have reviewed.
What’s worse, I fear that the proliferation of AI tools are quickly deceiving the average person into thinking they can craft an award-winning treatise with just a little help from their AI friends.
Having encountered some seriously deficient AI product lately, I would offer the time-worn cliché: Buyer, beware.
Rooting Out Trouble
For those who are serious about plying their craft instead of daydreaming their way to a novel or non-fiction work, I offer this tip—get active.
By that, I mean to go through your creation and root out as much passive tense verbiage as you can find. I’m referring to words like “is,” “were,” “be,” “am,” or “have been.”
It may help to use a coloration system; whether on paper or screen, shade those words with a different color to make them stand out. Then, chop off their heads.
In numerous cases, the passive tense can be rephrased into an action verb. Take the sentence I recently revised on a book project:
Original: The atmosphere in your brain is changed when you pray.
Edited: The atmosphere in your brain changes when you pray.
In the first, the atmosphere is passive; something is being done to it. In the second, the atmosphere goes into action. It does something; it changes.
Now, this may not seem like a huge deal. You may consider me a nitpicker who is just trying to find fault to justify my existence. Not true.
My goal as an editor is not trying to correct mistakes, but to refine a manuscript and help to strengthen it. I want the author to shine. After all, they are the important figure here, not me.
Changing verbs from passive to active tense is one of those subtle, incremental improvements that many readers won’t be conscious of; they’ll just know when they finish that your story sounds smooth. It seems more polished, thanks to an editor’s invisible hand.
Writers Passive Problem
After editing dozens and dozens of books over the years, I can assure you the leading shortcoming of inexperienced, first-time writers is the surfeit of passive tense verbiage.
This habit is so pronounced that for a newbie writer to attempt sending a manuscript (whether a book or short article) to a publisher without asking an experienced editor to review their language is asking for an automatic rejection slip.
To give you a couple more examples of revamping sentences:
Original: This book was easy for me to understand, even without a medical background.
Edited: This book contains valuable information that fuels your quest for good health.
Original: We are born with an innate sense to seek the truth.
Edit: An innate sense of seeking the truth characterizes our existence.
By now, first-time writers are probably shaking their head, thinking, “This guy isn’t for real.” I am, and I’m serious. If you want to write, you have to actively massage the language.
