4. A rhythmic sense.
5. Logical punctuation.
6. Resistance to writing like someone successful whom the author likes. (This is particularly true in revision. Write for clarity and effectiveness for your story, and don’t revise your writing so it sounds and reads like the work of a famous author.)
Make your writing reflect you, and no one else.
Clichés are words and phrases in the language that have been overused (raining cats and dogs, thunderous applause, bottled-up emotion and so on). An author must strive for fresh, vibrant language. Whether clichés are present is a judgment that depends on one’s experience in reading and one’s perception of the originality of any word or phrase’s vitality. Yet it is surprising how consistently experienced readers will judge clichés in specific works. Authors must be highly sensitive to the presence of any clichés in their writings and must remove them. Clichés deaden the story and push readers away.
Words must be accurate. (“He held her in his arms,” not “He crushed her in his arms.”)
Words must be appropriate to the context of the story and true to the narrative voice in action at the time of the word use. The following dialog does not fit for a character isolated in a black ghetto in New York City for life: “He had a bloody right to keep his mouth shut,” Keshawn thought. Remove from your writing this type of mischosen word, and more subtle examples, so that you can be sure your words are logical in the context of the character who is speaking, don’t stretch meaning, and do not detract from the story meaning or purpose.
Thesaurus use is both necessary and fun. Finding the right word should give every author a touch of satisfaction. If exploring alternatives for words in the story is a dreaded task, authors should reexamine their motivations for writing.
Syntax: the order and relationship among the structural elements in sentences and phrases.
Using syntax that supports an author’s prose is a skill acquired through practice. To develop syntactical excellence may require writing all the possibilities an author can think of, and then choosing the most effective one. Word positioning for best emphasis is one goal. Best placement of a modifier is another.
