Out of Place

Have you ever been reading one of your manuscripts and found words or sentences that were out of place and did not need to be there?

I bet you have.

Sometimes it takes someone else reading your writing to point this out to you and sometimes you find them yourself. Words and sentences are sometimes hard to cut, but it makes for a better story.

Just like this robin, your words may be pretty, but they do not belong in the picture. This robin would be right at home in the yard pulling  out worms, but I am not used to seeing them sitting on a snow covered branch.

At our last meeting, there were a couple of places in my manuscript that I was not sure about. I wondered if those sentences could be worded differently or completely removed. When my writing friends also pointed out the same areas to me, that told me something had to be done. A few sentences were deleted and others changed around a little to fit in.

You can do a perfectly good paragraph of describing and showing something, then that pesky little last sentence goes and tells what you just got through describing. Strike that pesky little 'out of place' sentence from your manuscript. It is not needed!

The calender is catching up with me. Only ten more days until the deadline to submit my stories to the West Virginia Writer's Conference Writing Contest.

Are you facing any writing deadlines?
I like deadlines! They keep me writing and keep me moving forward.

Happy Writing!

Posted by Janet Smart at Creative Writing in the Blackberry Patch
©Janet F. Smart