The Writing Party

By: Mary Discenza and Anna Hallett,  The Writing Party (5 Tips for Vivid Writing)

The best fiction draws you in

The best fiction has the power to draw you in so you are a participant in the plot. You identify with the characters so completely you experience the same fears, excitement, rage, joy, sadness and grief.

Think of your favorite stories and books. You remember them, you finished them, because the author spun a web of words which convinced you, indeed compelled you, to merge your life with the action of the story and live it with the characters until you reach “The End.”

Vivid writing fires the imagination

Vivid writing keeps readers involved. The foremost fiction writers know how to select words, styles, and structures to create “word photos” which fire their readers’ imaginations. It’s the reason many readers view a movie adapted from a book and remark, “The movie was good, but I liked the book better.” Carefully chosen phrasing speaks directly to a reader’s imagination, revealing setting, characters, and actions in a way often more satisfying than a movie.

To inspire your writing, read our article “Writing Prompts for a New Year.”

5 Tips for Vivid Writing

1 Read like a writer

Most good writers are prodigious readers and experts in “reading like a writer.” This means active reading—noting vocabulary, syntax, dialogue, and descriptions which bring stories to life. Learn as you read by observing, taking notes, and practicing similar styles. You’ll soon see the patterns which create richness and resonance in stories and be ready to use them in your own writing.

2 Choose lively verbs

Successful authors use active rather than passive language. Active language uses strong and lively verbs with the subject of the sentence doing the action. With a passive verb, an action is done to someone or something.

For example:

Active – Sally kicked the can.

Passive – The can was kicked by Sally.

Active – That song brought it all back.

Passive – It was that song which brought it all back.

Active language is stronger and livelier. The action is direct and engaging. Passive language is wordier and lacks engagement. The verbs “is, was, have, had” used in the passive voice are flat and spiritless.

Passive voice slows the pace of fiction, bogging down the story. Let the action lead the story. Review your writing, find the passive verbs, and revise. Active voice will make your writing more concise, more direct, easier to understand, and it will have a greater emotional impact.

3 Experiment with Present Tense

A story unfolding in the present tense can be powerful because of its immediacy. The reader is not somewhere in a safe future, the action is occurring now and anything can happen. It imparts a sense of urgency and reality to a story, like an “on the spot” news event.

These days we are encouraged to live in the moment, practice mindfulness, and embrace the notion of “real time.” Writing a story in present tense manifests this concept. Give present tense a try today to spice up your writing.

4 Who’s Telling Your Story

Another way to bring vibrancy to your writing is to experiment with point of view. Who is telling the story?

Do you imagine the main character telling the story through first person narration? Or maybe another character narrates? Or do events unfold via third person point of view, either omniscient, with an all-knowing perspective into every characters’ thoughts, or in limited third person, giving the reader full access to only one character? Perhaps third person objective voice would be most effective for your story, written like reportage, in a “just the facts” style, leaving the reader to interpret or infer for him or herself the inner workings of the characters. Or bring the reader right into the story with the “you” perspective of second person point of view.

Try switching perspective and see if another point of view improves the story. Ask yourself what each character might reveal as the narrator. Can the narrator be trusted? Can the narrator see the big picture or is he or she limited to personal experience? Your choice of narrator determines whether the reader is swept along with the action as it unfolds or sees only a limited, selective perspective that leaves room for suspense and misdirection. A change of voice can transform a tale from insipid to intoxicating.

5 Masterful metaphors, superlative similes

The finest fiction writers are masters of metaphor and superlative at simile. Incorporating figurative language into fiction is essential to composing stimulating stories.

Similes

Similes enhance descriptions by creating fitting analogies. A simile compares one thing to another using like or as and should make connections in a reader’s mind that bring deeper meaning and understanding. Similes liven writing in fun, innovative, and intriguing ways. Consider the following sentence:

          His essay had a lot of commas.  

It conveys the proper information in a dull and flat way. A more vivid and entertaining description is created with a simile:

          Commas were sprinkled like confetti throughout his essay.

The simile is apt and humorous. It brightens the sentence like sunlight on water.

Metaphors

Metaphors, like similes, also create a comparison, but don’t use the words like or as. These comparisons form vivid and concrete impressions for conveying thoughts, emotions, feelings, and abstract ideas. Metaphors bring sluggish sentences to life. For example:

          It was a very windy night.

This description is an inert report on nighttime weather. Observe how much livelier and rousing that same weather report expressed through metaphor:

          The wind, a shrieking banshee, slashed the darkness.

Now the message is clear—the wind is surely gale force and decidedly spooky. Metaphor gives the description atmosphere and vitality.

Write a page-turner

Try a few, or all, of these tips and you’ll soon find your fiction is keener and more spirited, shaping the page-turning story every writer aspires to.

For more writing tips, check out our other articles including “Just Say It: Writing Tip.”

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