It can be just as hard to find good books on writing as it can be to find a book with good writing. As someone who searches for both and aims to be a good writer, I found a mentor in Paula LaRocque’s The Book on Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Well. Here’s what she says:
“Avoid vague qualifiers. Find the right word for the context and let it stand alone—rather than the almost right word, qualified.”
In other words, use the navigation tool in your writing program to find all the times you use vague qualifiers like “very, extremely, totally, completely, wholly, entirely, utterly, really, quite, rather, somewhat, slightly, or fairly.” Don’t say “fairly beautiful” if the person in question is “attractive.” Don’t say “totally scared” if the person is “terrified.”
When I did this for myself in Dance With Me, I found many examples. I tended to favor “very,” “really,” and “quite” more than the other qualifiers LaRocque mentions. Sometimes, all I needed to do was replace the two words—the qualifier and the adjective—with one better word. Other times, I rewrote entire sentences or paragraphs to put a better lens on the feeling of the scene. Instead of the main character feeling “very dizzy,” I wrote, the example above with the highlighted “very,” when the main character is asked if she’s okay, I replaced those four sentences with this one: “The world rushed up at me and my vision went blurry.“
Find the spots in your writing that need cleaning up and get to work!
*LaRocque, Paula. The Book on Writing: the Ultimate Guide to Writing Well. Grey & Guvnor Press, 2003. Pgs. 77-80
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