Be Interesting!

Hey, I'm back!  I've been busy with school and also, working on my latest novel.  As I was working on it just now, I decided to post an article!  :)

Writing should be interesting.

When I was 7 or so, a certain series of easy-read books enthralled me.  I loved the books, and made my mom read all my favorite ones.  She, however, wasn't so intrigued, considering they were written for young children and also lacking interesting words and varying sentence structure.  For seven-year-olds, that's somewhat acceptable.  But if you're writing for older children, teens or adults, then your writing needs to be interesting.  I'm not necessarily referring to the story line, although that should be captivating, too!

How can you make your writing interesting?

1. Vary sentence lengths 

Hannah walked to the store.  She looked at the purses.  She bought a red purse.  Hannah walked home.  Hannah was happy.  She liked the purse.

Boring, right?  How about...

Hannah walked into the store.  An hour passed as she looked at all the different purses - the store had all kinds, from leather, crochet, or fur!  She finally bought a plaid red purse.  Then, she walked home smiling - she'd found the perfect purse!

I read a book recently made up mostly of fragments, or short sentences.  This book happened to be an action / adventure book, so the quick fragments fit the style.  However, I still enjoy reading varying sentence lengths...

2. Be Specific

How did Hannah walk?  Did she stroll?  Waltz?  Skip?  Run?  Race?  The above paragraph could be improved by specifying how she walked.  Also, how did she look at the purses?  Did she rifle through them, examine each purse carefully, or simply scan over the selection with her eyes and immediately make a choice?

3. Use Interesting Words

Some people don't like to read older books (take Dickens or Austen for example) because "they don't understand what the authors are saying".  This could be simply because sentences were much longer in "those days"...  or because the words are now archaic, or the story line moves slowly.  (Honestly I don't believe any of these points are satisfactory reasons why not to read Dickens or Austen, but I'll devote that subject to another article.  :))  As writers, we want our readers to understand our book...  but I believe we should also challenge readers.  One way we can do this is to use interesting words.

Now, if you throw the word "sadistic" or "indefatigable" into a children's novel, your reader might be a little daunted.  If you inserted one of those words into a historical fiction novel, written in 1800's times, in the style of Jane Austen or another similar author, it might not seem so out of place.

But, you can still challenge your reader by using new words that fit the style of your story.  You can subtly explain the meaning of the word, like this:

The unstoppable, indefatigable man continued on his journey, despite the rain.

What do you think the word "indefatigable" means, judging from this sentence?

To find out the answer, use your mouse to highlight the following:

Indefatigable means "unwavering" or "unstoppable".

Can you figure out an interesting word to add into the story about Hannah and her purse?

When you are reading and come across a word you don't know, then write it down so you can look it up in the dictionary later.

Tip: Start collecting interesting words.  Here are a few that can "spice up" (pardon the pun) your writing...

Verbs

Flittered

Shimmered

Adjectives

Impecunious

Sardonic

Replete

Ostensible

Conspicuous

Parsimonious

Nouns

Audacity

Poinard

Langour

Wainscoat

Looks like my list is a little lacking...let me know if you can find some interesting words!!!

-- Klara C.