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In Praise of the Humble Sentence
Voice is the quality of writing that lets a reader see the author behind the work. It’s what makes a piece of writing unique so that you and only you could have written this piece. I don’t look at it as a mystical thing; instead, I look to the tools that writers have to work…
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Sentences: Control of Voice
Creating the voice you want for your story or novel begins with Word Choices. It continues with control of your sentences. I emphasize control because many writers–well, they just write. Without consideration of sentence structures. Sentences, as the basic building block of the written word, need careful attention. You can write long, short, simple, complex,…
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Sentence Fragments: Use for Conversational Tone
When Can you Use Sentence Fragments? Last week, I recommended a summer exercise to play with sentence structures. One commenter asked for more information on sentence fragments. Arthur Plotnik, author of Spunk & Bite: A Writer’s Guide to a Bold Contemporary Style makes this startling statement: “Fragments are a natural and common form of speech,…
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Long and Short: Sentences
Importance of Sentence Variety My niece was here this weekend and we talked about her college writing experience. She said they try to change her habitual writing of high school into something more sophisticated. For example, they eschew the five-paragraph essay, rightly so. Instead, they look for more sophisticated structures. But when I teach writing,…