I’m sharing a link I ran across today on the to-be verb “was.” Many writers, including myself, overuse it.

It’s amazing that I stumbled on this article because I’m in the process of rewriting a family saga I finished years ago that I need to rewrite. One of the things I’m tackling and giving a great deal of thought to is the voice I want to use and how to go about omitting certain words from my prose, especially “was,” “could,” and “would.”

This article sheds a lot of light on the reasons why new writers struggle with omitting “was” from their prose. Once upon a time, I blamed it on our weak vocabulary. Though that may be the case, more than likely it’s because we don’t sit still long enough to think through a vocabulary of words locked inside our head.

Too often we’re in a hurry to get ideas down on paper, as we should. From experience, I have found that choosing stronger verbs should come near the end of your drafting cycle.

Why?

Because what’s important first and foremost is getting your ideas on paper. Going through a cycle of editing changes to make sure all of your ideas happen in sequential order is a must. By the time you get to draft #12 (or whatever the number of drafts may be), you can sit and fully concentrate on using stronger verbs.

Here is a link to a site to help you (1) get rid of “was”; (2) with ways to substitute stronger verbs; and (3) implement “was” sparingly.

https://www.septembercfawkes.com/2017/04/breaking-writing-rules-right-dont-use.html

This article has greatly benefitted me. I hope it also helps you.

HAPPY WRITING!

Donna B. Comeaux

Author

https://rb.gy/b7fwne