Tips to take your writing from stagnant to stunning! Slides from a two-part presentation by author/speaker Linda Fulkerson. Part One: Breaking Bad Habits. Part Two: Rev Up Your Writing. To learn more about Linda Fulkerson or to request her to speak at your group, visit her website: http://lindafulkerson.com.

1. Perk Up Your Prose:
Tips to Take Your Writing from
Stagnant to Stunning

2. No Bad Writing!
• Example from one of
my WIPs: “She
screamed at the top of
her lungs.”
• It’s cliche.
• It’s telling.
• It’s unemotional (a.k.a. BORING!).
• It’s wordy.
• It’s not even physically possible.
• Besides -- what did her lungs do to

3. • Polish the PUGS
• Resist the Urge to
Explain
• Trim the Fat
• Weed Out Wordiness
• Prune Prepositions
• Avoid Backing In
• Cut Clichés
• Patch POV Glitches
• Show, Don’t Tell
• Ditch the Danglers
• Ready, Set, Action!
• Eliminate the Great
Backstory Dump
Part I -- Breaking Bad
Habits (The Dirty Dozen)

4. Polish the PUGS
• Punctuation
• Usage
• Grammar
• Spelling

5. Resist the Urge to
Explain
• Readers are smart
-- give them
credit.
• Explaining the
already explained
bogs the story
with excess
baggage.

6. Trim the Fat
• Prefer the
familiar to the
far-fetched
• Prefer the
concrete to the
abstract
• Prefer the specific
to the vague

7. Weed Out Wordiness
• Certain words fly
the red flag of
wordiness
• Vague qualifiers
• Unnecessary
adverbs
• Redundancies

8. Prune Prepositions
• Cut the Dead
Weight
• Reduce
overcrowdedness
• Leave the Good
Stuff

9. Avoid Backing In
• Begin sentences
with subjects and
verbs -- and then
branch right (old
journalism rule).
• John Steinbeck
was a master at
this technique.

10. Cut Clichés
• Clichés are:
• Almost always
“telling.”
• Boring because
they’re
predictable.
• Lazy writing.

11. Patch POV Glitches
• Whose story is it,
anyway?
• Limit one POV
per scene (and to
one POV for
short stories &
essays).
• Who would think
that?

12. Show, Don’t Tell
• Use dialogue
• Use sensory
language
• Be descriptive
• Be specific

13. Ditch Dangling
Modifiers
• Dangling
modifiers have no
object.
• Many dangling
modifiers result
from passive
voice.

14. Ready, Set, Action!
• The problem with
passiveness . . .
• It’s telling.
• It’s boring.
• It’s not specific.
• It’s often lazy
writing.

15. Eliminate the
Great Backstory Dump
• Place backstory
as late in the
story as possible.
• Make the reader
wonder.
• Introduce
backstory bit by
bit.

16. • Ground the Reader
• Do You Hear What I
Hear (see, feel, etc.)?
• Emotional Impact
• Literary Devices
• Think Like a
Cinematographer
• Set the Scene
• Storytelling vs.
Reporting
• Listen to Your Critics
• Funny Thing,
Research
• Dynamic Dialogue
• Create Cliffhangers
• Brainstorming Tips
Part II -- Rev Up Your
Writing

17. Ground the Reader
• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Where?
• Why?
• How?

18. Do You Hear What I Hear
(See, Feel, Taste, Smell)?
• Does each scene
include sensory
details?
• Be specific and if
possible, attach
the sense to an
emotional
experience.

19. Emotional Impact
• You’re not paid to
be nice!
• Are You
Motivated?
• Go for the Goal!
• Stacking the
Dominoes . . .

20. Literary Devices
• Alliteration
• Onomatopoeia
• Personification
• Simile
• But wait -- there’s
more!

21. Think Like a
Cinematographer
• Pull back the lens
and shift your
focus.
• Aerial View
• Establishing Shot
• Middle Distance
• Close-up

22. Set the Stage
• Is your setting:
• particular?
• Appropriate?
• Consistent?
• Believable?

23. Storytelling vs.
Reporting
• Reporters convey
information;
stories create
experience.
• Reports transfer
knowledge --
stories transport
the reader.

24. Listen to Your Critics
• No one enjoys
criticism --
especially of a
creative work.
• Use all critiques
as a positive
learning
experience and
you will grow as

25. Funny Thing, Research
• Search for the
Truth -- because
someone will
know if you
don’t.
• Don’t Scream, “I
did my research!”

26. Dynamic Dialogue
• Tag, Don’t Tell
• Talk Like a Man
(or woman, or
child . . .)
• Adding “Oomph”
• Basic format

27. Internal Cliffhangers
• Leave the reader
in suspense by
ending with a
dramatic element
before breaks in
action.
• Dare the reader to
stop reading.

28. Brainstorming Tips
• Listen to music.
• People watch.
• Character correspondence.
• Pick a partner.
• Get in tune with nature.
• Read poetry.
• Conduct a word study.